The Rise Of Christendom

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THE

KISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

EDWIN JOHNSON. .M.A.

"QniH Driiuaiu < IrjjtMU ih' t|inM fniMi drunl"

IH* »<iit ■' n*' iiiin* jiUHpicio KDitia* «it In frrHM'udo ' »*< qtia

Mumltutik V' I'n* or il, t‘

TO THE EIGHT irOHOXTEABLK

SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart.,

LL.I>., O.O.L., F.U.Sm

MKMBEK OF t’AUMAMKNT KOH THK UNIVEIiSITY OF LONDON',
IN

KINCKIIE KHTKKM FOR HIS CHAUAOTKU AND UtS MANY SBRVIOK
TO JIDMANITV AND HOUONi'K,

XCbis l!)olumc

IS

DKDKtATICD.

PEEFATOEY NOTE.

While engaged in the revision of the following pages,
1 have examined some further branches of evidence
relating to the subject, and have confirmed myself in
the general conclusions which I have laid before the
reader. About four hundred ycar.s ago the schools
of England and of the West were ruled by the Black
Monks, with their allies the Black, the White, the
(trey, the Austin Friars, and other religious orders.
'I'hcy had formed an orthodox system of education. Its
])rinciplc was theological ; it was derived from a peculiar
interpretation of the Jewish Scriptures. From it was
deduced an orthodox geography and chronology, an
orthodox physiology and anthropology, and an orthodox
astronomy.

Every one of these orthodox doctrines has been super-
seded in the course of cx})ericuce. In the light of
orthodox geography the dream of Columbus was
absurd, but the discovery of Columbus — the fourth
anniversary of which we shall soon be commemorating
— converted the orthodox geography into an absurdity.
'I'ho orthodox chronology has been shown to be as
artificial as other mcdiinval chronologies. The pro-
ceedings of Galileo were absurd in the opinion of the

I'HEFACK.

viii

orthodox astronomers ; ami so was the philosoph)' of
Bacon. Yc't we hear nothing now of the orthodox
astronomy, nor do men now sock to arrive at facts by
dn'aininit first and ol)servinii; later. "We do not now
sc'ck to (h'dnc(> our facts from onr theories, as our
('arly ti'aclu'rs persistently did. As for the orthodox
pliysioloj^y and anfhropoloify, these suhjects have’
})ass(‘d so com])]et('ly into tlie Inndx'r-rooin of obsolete
lore that most ('diunted ]H'rsons would ho astounded
if they knew what was the teachinij; on those s(d)jccts
in our schools about a c(‘nl;nry hefori? tlm tinu^ of
Bacon.

The ('hurch history of the nioidvs has not alto-
jj:<t.lier (\sca])ed tlui fil(' of the rest of their t.oachinjt. An
Anf>;lican elerfi-yimin in the .sevente('nlh (a'litury made' a
most damaging attack iijion a ]uirf of it; and Ial(' in
the saiiK' age a Catholic cl<'rgynian exposed tlie system
of it, with severer invectives against tin* literary monks
tinui have (*ver fdh'ii from the pen of layman or Brrt-
lestant. It woulil he long to <‘xplain how it is that
in this resp('et tlio monks of 1h<> NV’est have so long
retained tlieir hold upon onr iniagiiialion, and how it
<‘omes to jiass that onr scholars continue !<> edit us
geiiuiiu' re[ir<'sentatioiis (»f onr past what are iitli<'
more than a series of fables agreed upon, d<’rlu<’ed
fniin dogma, and jtttblisliefl to flic world as a mi'iins
of ruling the world.

In the present day it is well nnderstootl that hi.story
is tlie task of tluf s(ditury stud<*nt; and tlie notion of
un niiiversity or other eorporiition conspiring and
collahoniting in the prodtictiun of a dogmntie theory

PREFACE.

IX

of the world in the form of story appears absurd. In
the present day it appears to he conceded that no
university or other learned body 'should rest upon a
dogmatic principle which sets finality to any kind of
knowledge and excludes inquiry. Our schools were
founded on the opposite principle, and every thought-
ful student of our history is aware of the great injuries
to our spiritual and social life that have flowed from
it. A chasm deep and impassable separates us from the
Middle Age and clerical theory of education.

I have shown in this work, with as much of succinct-
ness and brevity as it seemed to me the subject admitted,
that orthodoxy in historical study leads to results in
sharp contradiction with the facts of the past as they
may still in their outline bo known. Chidstianism is
the system of a corporation ; it is the theory of the
primitive monks. No other primitive Christians are
to be ascertained. With regard to the epoch when
the primitive Order appeared, I have endeavoured to
appi'oximato towards the fact, hoping that I may be
(uiabled in some future work to do something more
for tlic elucidation of this obscure question. I have
written, though with the sense of great imperfections,
for tlio best audience of my time, and especially for
those who arc aware with me nf the need for solving
this long-vexed historical problem ; because upon the
solution of it great consequences in reference to our
system of education^ and to oxir common civility and
culture, depend.

CONTENTS.

Introduction

PAOE

, I-2I

CHAPTER I.

THE OBJ^ECT OF THE INQUIRY.

Origin of Rome — Preface of Livy — Theory of Holy Romanism— Pro-
gramme of the first Church History — Its date and structure —

The dogma and the facts — Programme of the present work —

The Augustinian on the Civity of God — Romulus and Christ 22-38

CHAPTER II.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND CHRISTENDOM.

1. The evidence from inscriptions — The monogram — The Cross as
sigii of victory — The Crucifix — 2. The evidence from coins —

The Legend of the Labarum — Legend of Victoria — 3. The evi-
dence from Calendars — 4. The evidence from Roman laws —
Universities — The false Codes and the Novellce— 5. The evidence
from architecture — An imaginary Rome .... 39-64

CHAPTER III.

GLIMPSES OF MEDIEVAL ROME AND ITALY.

The fourth century — The Notitia Urhis — The fifth century — The
thirteenth century — Legend of St. Eustachius — St. Peter^s —
Roman guilds — The Leonine city — Monte Cassino — Legends of

CONTENTS.

xii

PAGE

Origin — Farfa — The cult of St. Michael — St. Nicholas of Bari —
Salerno and St. Matthew — Messina, Monreale — Retrospect of
Papal legends 65-95

CHAPTER. lY.

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS TEACHING AMONG
THE ROMANS.

L. Annaeus Seneca — Honesty — Virtue — Sanity — Liberty — Sociality
— God — The gods — One essence in many forms — The future — Hell
— Heaven — Claudian — Clemency — Good faith — Mother Rome —

The new Pythagoreans— Life of Pythagoras — ]\liracles . 96-118

CHAPTER Y.

THE ETHICS OF THE MONASTERIES.

Joannes Cassi anus— The habit of the monk— Renunciation— Subjec-
tion — Mortification — Humility — The eight vices — Love of money
— Vainglory — The destiny of the monk — Contemplation — Three
sources of thought — Hatred of liberal culture — Discretion — Tlie
flesh and the spirit 119-131

CHAPTER Yl.

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

The Moslems the critics of the Church — The Koran and tiie Oliroiiicle
— Legends of Genesis — Adam — The temptation — The serpent —
Kabil and Hdbil — Tlie first munler and burial — Posterity of
Adam — The two witnesses— Seth — Enos, Cainan — Edris — The
Prophet Noah — The Flood — Scm, Cham, Japliet — The Prophets
Houd and Salih— Ibrahim the Iconoclast : his liery trial —
Nemrod wars against heaven — Flight of Ibrahim — Sara — Agar
— Death of Nemrod — Ismail — Circumcision — The Kaaba —
Ibrahim visits Ismail — Isak — The cities of Loth — Meal customs
— Destruction of the cities by Gabriel — Sacrifice of Ismail — The
sacrificial prayers — Ceremonies at the Kaaba — Birth of Yakoub
— Il^rahim and the resurrection : his death— Death of Ismail —
Nabit and Kedar — Esau and Yakoub — Romans and Arabians —
Benjamin — Yussuf in Egypt — Ephraim and Manasseh — Ayoub

CONTENTS.

PAGE

the Patient — The Prophet Schoaib — King Minotschehr — Birth of
Musa — The family of Imram— Flight of Musa — His prophetic
mission — The holy valley — The Divine unity — Prayer — The
resurrection — Sign of the rod — Musa before Pharaoun — The
magicians become believers and martyrs — The nine signs — The
exodus — The tomb of Yussuf — The day Aschoura — Death of
Pharaoun — S^meri — The revelation on Mount Sinai — The golden
calf — The repentance and expiation — Beading of the Taurath —
Return to Egypt — Musa and Khidr — Q^ronu — Fight of Musa
with the giants — The manna and the quails — The rock and the
twelve springs — Death of Musa and Harun — The Prophet Joshua
— Phinees — Kings of Persia — The Prophet Khazqil — Elias —
Eliseus — The ark — Kings of Israel — Samuel — TMout — Levi and
Jehud — Daoud — TMout plots against him — The Prophet Daoud
— Trial of Daoud — The Temple — Loqman — Suleiman — Legends
of Suleiman — Balkis — The ring — His death — Kings of Israel —
Ezechias and Isaias— Jeremy — Zerdusht and the mages —
Destruction of the holy place — Daniel — Ahasuerus and Esther
— Kirousch 132-207

CHAPTER VII.

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE— Continued.

The Himyarite Kings — Persia — Dara the elder — Philip of Macedon
— Alexander — Dsoul Qarnaim — Gog and Magog — Augustus —
Antiochus — Constantine — The Aschkanian kings — Origin of the
Christian legend— The Prophet Zachariah — The consecration of
Mariam — The casting of lots — Birth of Yahya — Yussuf the car-
penter — The annunciation — Heresies concerning Mariam and
Isa — The creed of Islam — The birth of Isa — He speaks in the
cradle — The fall of the idols — Flight of Mariam with Isa— The
rearing of Isa — First miracle of Isa — Murder of Zachariah —
Prophetic office of Yahya — Prophetic office of Isa — Raising of
Sem from the dead — The twelve disciples— Story of the table
from heaven — The law of the Sabbath — Betrayal of Isa — Cruci-
fixion of Isoua in Isa’s stead — ^The seven apostles : Peter and
Paul, Thomas, Philip, John, James, Bartholomew — Ascen-
sion of Isa — Tiberius and Herod become believers — The Cross
becomes a Qiblah — Heresies concerning Isa — Death of Mariam

XIV

CONTEJSTTS.

PAGB

— Murder of Yuliya — King Kherdous—Tlie Propliet Daniel in
the lion’s den — Ardeschir, son of Babeth — The young men of the
cavern— Jonas, son of Matai — The two apostles succoured by a
third — Story of Samson — Story of George (Djirdjis) the martyr
— Mani, the heresiarch — Yemen — The x^eople of Nadjran —
Fimioun — The men of the elephant — Epoch of the elephant —

Islam and Christianism — Conversion of the Peris — The Beni-
Israel and the Arabs— The Qiblah — The Fast of Bamadan 208-284

CHAPTER YIII.

THE RISE OF HEBREW LITERATURE,

Date of the Hebrew MSS — Hebrew writing and grammar — The
Semitic mother-tongue — The Hebrew tradition depends on the
Arabians — Ibrim and Eber — The Davidic tradition — The plot
against the Jewish people — The Talniuds — Popular Jewish my-
thology — Dogma of the Eabbinical succession — Actual rise of
the Spanish schools — Examination of the Eabbinical theory —

RE. Scherira and Hai — E. Saadia — Legend of Cordova — The
splendid period of Judaism — Chronicle of A 1 hlakkari — The
Jewry at Toledo — The ideal of David — Persecution of the Jews
— The Bible in the light of mediocval times — The Table of
Nations in Genesis x. — Symbolism of the Bible — Biblical refer-
ence to Spain and France as homes of the people— E. Joseph of
Sepharad — Descriptions of the Crusades — Cessation of the schools
— The fast for the events of 1171 — Origin of the fasts — The
Rabbins and the Abbots — Legend of St. Nilus — The false Joseph i
— Eabbins in Borne — Jerusalem in poetry and history — Medieval
geographies and maps 285-331

CHAPTER IX.

THE SYSTEM OF CHURCH LITERATURE.

The Mishnic period — The rise of Greek and Latin niedia3val litera-
ture — The monks at Tusculum— Legend of St. Nilus — Innocent
III. — The thirteenth century — The Catalogues of Church writers
— Greek Catalogues — Photius— Josephus— Philo — J ustus — Euse-
bius .Pamphili — Nilus the Monk — Suidas — The system of his-
torians — The first Ecclesiastical History — The dogma of Christ —

CONTENTS.

XV

PAOE

The system of Chronicles— Cbalcondylas on the Nazarsei — The
Latin Catalogues — J erome — Gennadius — Patrologic mythology —

Life of St. Jerome — Isidore — Hildefonso and Toledo — Sigebert
— Honoriiis — The illustrious of Monte Cassino — Peter the Deacon
— The Anonymns of Melk — The Anonymns Zwetlensis — Halph
de Diceto — Henry of Ghent — Fathers and Doctors in the Divine
Comedy — The Canterbury Tales — Abbot Trithemius — The Mis-
sal — The Apostle and the Gospels — Legends of the Pascha — Date
and character of the New Testament — The Or do Romanus — The
Franciscans and the New Testament — The Dominicans — Geo-
graphy of the New Testament — The Book of the Popes — The
Decretum of Gratian — The psendo-Isidorian Decretals — Note :
on Father Hardouin’s Prolegomena 332-393

CHAPTER X.

EARLY FORMS OF THE CHRISTIAN LEGEND.

Jhristology — Titles of Christ — Mystical origin of the Christians —

The reign of Augustus — Mystical derivation from the Old
Testament — Typical Christs — The New Nation — The Epiphany
— The genealogies — The cultus of the Blessed Virgin — The Holy
Family— Feasts of St. Mary — St. Joachim and St. Ann — The
Carmelites — The birthplace of Christ — The name Fazorceus —
Augustus and the Pythia — Gospel of the infancy — Time of Pilate
— Jesus and Abgariis — The dogma of the Passion — The eclipse —
Veronica — Election of Christ to the Jewish priesthood — Tiberius
and the Senate — Cains Caligula — Claudius — Nero — St. Paul at
Athens — The two Simons at Rome — Feast of SS. Peter and
Paul 394-433

CHAPTER XI.

THE INTERPOLATIONS IN THE LITERATURE OF THE
ROMAN EMPIRE.

tables about the Jews — In Cicero — Virgil — Horace — Ovid — Strabo —
Pliny — P. Mela — Ptolemasus — Diodorus— P. Trogus — V. Pater-
culus — Lucan — Q . Curtins — J uvenal — Seneca — Martial — V .
Flaccus — A. Julianus — C. Silius Italicus — Statius— Persius —

XVI

CONTEISTTS.

Quintilian — Tacitus — Pliny the Younger — Appian — Herodian —

Dion Cassius — Suetonius — Florus — Epictetus — Apuleius — The
jurist Tertullian — Pausanias — Plutarch — Lucian — Philo of
Byblus — M, Aurelius — N umenius — Porphyry — D. Longinus
— The Historia Augusta — Eirmicus Maternus — A. Victor —
Eutropius — S. Rufus — A. Marcellinus — Claudian — P. Vegetius
Renatus — Rutilius-Boetius — Zosimus — Macrohius — Writers of
the sixth century 434-469

CHAPTER XII.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.

Literary sources for the first Crusade — Greek and Latin, Hebrew,
Arabian — Retrospect from Westminster — The Northumbrian
monasteries — State of the world at the end of the twelfth
century — the Rabbinical schools — The Mohammedans in Syria
— The imiJcrious Popes — The kingdom “not of this world” —
Christianity and culture — The teaching of the future —Hopes

for the Church 470-494

INDEX 495-499

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

INTEODUCTION.

It is now about one hundred and twenty-five years
since Edward Gibbon stood musing amidst the ruins
of the Capitol of Home, “ while the bare-footed friars
were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter,” and
the idea of writing the story of the Decline and Fall
of the City first occurred to his mind. The reader
may, however, search in vain through the pages of his
elaborate and splendid composition for any clear and
intelligible account of the course of events which
brought the Franciscan friars to the Capitol, where
they had been from about the year 1250. It is said
that the Benedictines had occupied the Capitol before
them ; but if so, the Benedictines could not have been
there much earlier than the end of the twelfth century.
The very site of the Temple of Jupiter, and the history
of the transition from the old Homan to the Mediaeval
worship, remain wrapped in profound obscurity.

Had Gibbon, while he meditated the rise of the
Christian Church, remained still in thought upon the
Capitol until he could discern the figure of the first
monk ascending that sacred hiU, he would have been
led to very different conclusions from those which he
adopted in his famous work. He might have waited

X

2

THE EISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

■until he could hear the monks proclaiming how the
Emperor Augustus had, after a visit to the Pythian
priestess at Delphi, been converted to belief in the
power of a Hebrew Boy, the Euler of Olympus, and
how he had raised an altar on the Capitol to the First-
Begotten of God. Had Gibbon determined the age
of that legend, he would not have erred so widely from
the true epoch of the origin of the Church. He has
laid his finger upon the word “ organisation,” as indi-
cating one of the secondary causes of the spread of
Christianity, yet he has nowhere pointed out the nature
of that organisation, nor how and where it was founded.

Gibbon has acquired the repute of the first of eccle-
siastical historians ; yet he has not been able to trace
the rise of the Church in accordance with the laws of
reason and experience. An enthusiasm for Oriental
ideas appears suddenly to take possession of the popu-
lar mind. Monotheism sets in. The tolerance of the
Empire is violated, first for the persecution of the Chris-
tians, then for the persecution of all who are not
Christians. The emperors become theological madmen,
either in their attachment or their enmity to this new
rehgious system, which gi-adually becomes an establish-
ment of the Empire. Gibbon should have observed,
I think, that the Church historians delight in repre-
senting the story as from the first incredible and con-
trary to human reason. He should have taken the
warning, and have made a more searching examination
of his original soiu’ces.

He has explained to us how he used his materials.
Ho was guided by great Church collectors, as Tille-
mont ; he verified the references given him ; ho detected
and exposed some falsehoods, but the rest he treated
as genuine narrative. In short, he wrote too much on

INTBODUCTIOiSr.

3

the faith of representations at second-hand. He never
clearly detected the fact that the earhest Church litera-
ture proceeded from a literary confederacy, which was
sworn to support a dogma of history entirely at vari-
ance with the events of the Roman Empire. He was
well aware that the decline of the Imperial authority
and the rise of the Popes were connected together as
effects of one common cause ; hut he never opened up
to us the nature of that cause, nor the period during
which it operated. I need not further remark on this
subject, because the reader will find that the following
pages may incidentally be regarded as a critique upon
the method and the results of Gibbon. Departing
from him as I do, I should wish to render a tribute of
respect to his name, as that of an Englishman of whom
we are justly proud, and of an inimitable artist, who
commands the admhation of all lovers of literature.

Montesquieu had said before Gibbon that “ the monies
wrote not in the interest of their subject, hut for the
glory of their Order;” an observation perfectly just, and
for want of attention to which the history of Christen-
dom has so long remained in obsemity. In the present
work I have dealt with the mythology of the cloisters,
by means of which a great cloud of fancy has been
made to envelop Church origins in our world, from
Asia and Egypt to the British Isles. As briefly as I
may, I will explain how I was led to the conclusions,
strange and perhaps startling as they will at first appear,
which are set forth in the following pages.

The business of my life, for more than thirty years,
has been mainly with classical and theological literature ;
the serious problem to which I have devoted all my
leisure of late has been the ascertainment of the origin
of Christianity, and the way in which it was first planted

4

THE RISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

in the -world. In 1886 I occupied myself in finding an
answer to a question propounded by the Teyler Theolo-
gical Society of Haarlem. The student was required
by the conditions of the question to close the New
Testament, and to ascertain the origin of Christianity
from the Christian and from the Grseco-Koman writers
of the second century. I found that the Imperial
writers, so to call them for convenience’ sake, knew
nothing whatever of the Church or of Christianity. I
found that the Christian writers knew nothing of the
New Testament — nothing of those strong dramatic
representations which have been familiar to us from
childhood, as derived from the hearing or reading of
the Church Lessons. Christianity was a system of
mystical ideas, wholly derived from a capricious exe-
gesis of the Old Testament writings. The result asto-
nished me ; but it stood fast, nor have my esteemed
critics succeeded in the slightest degree in controvert-
ing it.^

Another result of the investigation was, that the
Church evidently supplanted or succeeded to some sect
or sects of Orientals in Home, whom the Churchmen
then converted {prcBposteromly, in the strict sense of
the word) into heretics from her system. The reader
will find in the following pages the elucidation of these
curious relations. I resumed the study by a close and
prolonged examination of the first Ecclesiastical History
ascribed to Eusebius Pamphili. Naturally the first his-
tory of the Chxrrch is here to be sought ; and the neglect
of this principle has been one of the chief causes of the
long bewilderment from which we have suffered.

My previous results in general were confirmed by
this study. I saw that the canonical books were still

^ See Antiqua Mater : a StuUy of Christian Origins,” 1887.

INTEODUCTIOjST.

5

unknown, except in their bare scheme, to this "writer,
who pretends to he contemporaneous with Constantine,
and that he had no historical sources whatever. But
this writer lays bare the great historical dogma of the
Church, which from the first governed all its enter-
prises, alike of the sword and the pen — the dogma that
the Church was coeval in her origin with the Roman
Empire itself. In further researches I found that the
whole of the earliest Church literature proceeded from
the cloisters of the two primitive Orders of St. Basil
and St. Benedict. They, and they alone, were the
inventors of the designation Christiani, and of the
whole system of ideas connected with it. Their litera-
ture was persistently antedated into times when it
could not have been written. The whole problem was
now to ascertain when this monastic confederacy began
their literary enterprise. It became manifest that it
was at no time during the old Roman Empire. When
did the Holy Roman Empire begin 1

I came to the rise of Islam. I studied the Koran
and the great Arabian Chronicle of A1 Tabari. I found
that the Scriptures of the Muslim had been perverted
by the Benedictines "with a "view to make the Orientals
heretics from the Church, and that the misrepresenta-
tion had never since been corrected. The great tradi-
tion of the Mosque owed not a syllable either to the
Church or to the Synagogue. On the contrary, both
the Church and the Synagogue were indebtdl in diffe-
rent ways to that great theological system, which was
in existence long before its Jewish and Catholic sisters.
I examined the traditions of the Synagogue, and found
that the cause of our illusions in reference to the
antiquity of Judaism was similar to the cause of our
illusions in respect to the Catholic Church.

6

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

It is from -want of attention to the nature of the
Mediaeval literatures that the learned world has been
so long deceived. We, who pretend to write history
or science in these days, labour to ascertain and define
the facts, that we may rise from facts to theory. The
method of the Medisevalists was precisely the opposite.
They insisted upon Dogma as the one thing needful to
be asserted and believed. Facts were of no moment
except in so far as they favoured or opposed the Dogma.
They must he plastically dealt with in the interest of
the Dogma, must be suppressed, perverted, or conjured
out of the void by the magic power of historic inven-
tion. The question is not now of the morality of these
proceedings ; it is the fact that these things were syste-
matically done which must be insisted on.

Little is known of the religious life of the Arabs
before Mohammed ; it was probably analogous to that
of other peoples. But from the year 800 or earlier,
men might hear on Fridays in the mosque at Cordova
how the Apostle of God was the last in a long succes-
sion of prophets and apostles that stretched from the
first man, Adam, to Isa, son of Mai'iam, and from him to
Mohammed. The Imaums were agreed that his genea-
logy could be traced up through Ismail and Ibrahim to
the very origin of mankind, more than 6000 years agone.
The same great dogma was heard at their holy places
in the East, Mecca and JElia, some four hundred years
before thfre was a Christian university in any part of
the world. The Arabians wore our first teachers of the
Book, and it is due to historic circumstances, as Gibbon
points out in a lively passage, that our Oxford divines
are not now defending and expounding the Moslem
form of the Bible — that is, the Koran — rather than the
Testaments.

INTRODUCTION.

7

Cordova is one of the most suitable places in our world
from which the rise of Christendom may be surveyed.
There, about two hundred years after the erection of
the mosque, the Eahbins, teachers of another and much
smaller clan or caste of the children of Israel, began to
read a somewhat different version of the Biblical tradition,
and to give the preference to the younger son of Ibra-
him (Abraham) as their ancestor. They leaned on the
Arabian tradition ; they passed for Muslim in the world,
but in secret they dreamed the dreams and saw the visions
of an imaginary regal and rabbinical past. Gradually,
during the next two hundred years, they formed a new
people, and another great dogma was launched, that
of the Prophetical Succession, stretching from Moses,
whom they honoured in common with the Arabians, to
Moses Maimonides of Cordova and Cairo. Here again
the dogma of history is one thing, the facts are another,
separated from the dogma by an impassable chasm.
Again, but for historic circumstances, we might have
been converted to the observance of the Sabbath, and
synagogues of Moorish architecture might have been
thickly studded over the lands of the West. As Friday
is followed by Saturday, so the Synagogue succeeds the
Mosque. Yet another branch of the children of Israel,
settled at Nablus in Syria, had their theory of a priestly
succession from Aaron, and a rival Law and Chronicle.
These are the so-caUed Samaritans.

In the time of that great revenge of the West upon
the East, those Oriental wars we call the Crusades, a
third religious corporation arose, and once more as-
serted a dogma of history absolutely irreconcilable with
the facts. The literary members of the two primitive
Orders of St. Basil and St. Benedict, once united, laid
down the basis on which all Church literature was to

8

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

be contrived and constructed. It was tlie theory that
the Holy Catholic Church or Holy Roman Empire
began with the reign of the Emperor Augustus, and
that, according to an early legend I have already cited,
Augustus was himself a Christian. These clerics looked
with envious eye upon the prosperity of the Jews
and the confederation of synagogues. They were bent
upon crushing them, as their warlike allies were bent
upon crushing the servants of Allah and his Apostle in
the East. They directed in concert a malignant invec-
tive against the whole people, whom they call Judsei.
They represented them as cast off from the mercy of the
Eternal their God, and the Christians a sect from them,
as having succeeded to their religious status and privi-
leges. Sunday becomes the new day of worship.

It was necessary, in support of this dogma, to invent
a mass of fables respecting the Judeei, which stiU disgrace
the pages of the writers under Imperial Rome, who were
innocent of any knowledge of that Oriental caste. It
was the greatest misdeed, I believe, that wielders of
the pen had ever perpetrated ; and it is time that by
wielders of the pen in this happier age it should be
exposed and denounced. I write simply as an English-
man of Northern extraction. I do not enjoy the acquain-
tance of many members of the Synagogue. But I am
sure there are now many admirable critical scholars of
Jewish extraction who do not desire that the history of
the people should any longer be darkened by fables
which are injurious to our common culture. They may
confirm or they may correct my views, but at least they
will not be displeased with my intention, which is to do
their respected community a long-delayed justice. I
am in sympathy with those who are weary of hearing of
the faults of the Jews, and who prefer to contemplate

I]:^TEODUCTIOK'.

9

what is exemplary in their life ; who think, with Jules
Michelet, that their vices are mainly of our own creation,
while their virtues are all their own.

I have endeavoured in the present work to deal
with the masses of evidence relating to the rise of
Christendom, and to define the effect which they pro-
duce upon the mind of one who desires to be an
impartial observer and critic. Until the masses have
been surveyed, no study of the details will bring us
nearer to the objects of our research. We are con-
cerned with four classes of witnesses. First of all, with
the Imperial writers, who cease soon after the time of
the Emperor Justinian. These are our best witnesses,
not only as the earliest, but as the highest in character.
They were, as a rule, men of rank ; they wrote — as
Englishmen should write now — in freedom and inde-
pendence, yet with loyalty to the Empire which they
served. They wrote to give information, not to pro-
mote a religious dogma nor to deceive the world. To
their testimony may be added the unconscious testi-
mony of inscriptions and other monuments. Next
come the clergy of Islam, who are responsible for the
Koran and all the explanatory hterature connected
with the Koran, down to the late Arabian chroni-
clers of the thirteenth century. Their testimony, of
an importance still more massive, has hitherto been
neglected or carelessly misunderstood. The Spanish
Kabbins, from Samuel the Nagid to Maimonides, follow.
Lastly, the Benedictines and Basilians of Monte Cassino
and Grotta Ferrata, of Cluny and Citeaux, and many
other cloisters, followed by the Franciscans and
Dominicans, the Augustinians and the Carmehtes, cla-
mour to be heard. I have listened to the substance
of what these various dogmatists had to say to the

10

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

world tlxrougli the universities, and I have drawn my
own conclusions. They are such, I believe, as might
have been drawn by a scholar at the court of Frederic
II. during the first half of the thirteenth century ;
they are such as might have been drawn by Laurence
Valla or by Foggio, had they persevered in their
critical inquiries.

They are such conclusions as Prebendary Thomas
Fuller, the keen satirist of the monks and their Church
history of Britain, would have drawn, had he traced the
monks to the earliest cloisters. Gibbon himself, had
he felt the full force of what he wrote about Valla,
and the discovery of the imaginary foundations of the
Church, would have been led to similar conclusions.
Macaulay, who, fresh from India, was in Eome some
fifty and more years agone, wondering at what he called
the Brahmanical government of the city, had he ad-
dressed himself to the question, might have given to it
the most masterly elucidation. It is with regret one re-
flects upon the names of other English men of letters who
have adorned our time, and who might have done much
for the enlightenment of the public on these matters.

Still more deplorable is it to reflect that the interest
of the clergy cannot be in favour of free historical
inquiry, and that a large number of the best-educated
men of the time are where they are for the purpose of
resisting inquiry. Bishop Sprat, in writing of Cowley,
alluded to a prevalent opinion of his time that Chris-
tianity was “the interest of a profession.” Dr. Eobert
South, that master of the science of human nature,
remarked that sometimes Providence casts things so
that truth and interest lie the same way, but that it
is incredible to consider how interest outweighs truth.
Interest turns the doubtful into the probable, or the

INTRODUCTION.

II

tnith into the doubtful or the downright false. He
goes so far as to hint that when divines are unanimous
on a disputed point, their opinion depends on interested
considerations. Interest, he says, casts the balance ; in-
terest is the grand wheel and spring that moves the
whole universe. In the next age, the Bishop of Durham
is complaining that the educated classes treat Chris-
tianity as no longer a subject even of inquiry ; as if it
were discovered to be fictitious. In a perplexed work,
he undertakes to show that it is not so clear a case that
there is nothing in it. The same strong contrast of the
ecclesiastical with the secular mind still obtains in
England. How pathetic a record is to be found in Mr.
Thomas Mozley’s Eeminiscences of the Oxford move-
ment, of noble spirits whose force has been squandered
in the effort to uphold the Mediseval tradition, while
leading Englishmen in politics and letters are said to
have rejected it !

I write myself in the interest of teachers who feel
that it is a great inconvenience not to understand the
past of the world, or to understand that it has been
misrepresented, and not freely to say so. The monks
who first visited these islands had no such interest.
Their object was to bring us under their yoke, and they
succeeded in establishing creduhty towards them and
their theories as the first principle of education. They
never earned even our confidence ; their works have
long been condemned ; yet slowly, very slowly, are we
recovering the intellectual freedom of which they de-
prived us. They have left certain fixed ideas about
history on our minds which are destined to be unfixed
and to pass away, as fixed ideas about astronomy have
passed away.

To be useful to others, we must write out of painful

12

THE RISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

experience ; and the reader will discover that there have
been painful experiences behind what I have written.
The result of these studies has forced me to vrithdraw
from beloved avocations, wherein I have spent some
of the happiest years of life. Could I have found an
answer to my own arguments, I would gladly have done
so, because interest — in more than one sense of the
word — has not in my case lain the same way with truth.
If the fact lends any indirect corroboration to my argu-
ments, any weight to my conclusions, I shall perhaps
be justified in having mentioned it.

I have to thank many friends at home for their intel-
ligent sympathy, also several professors of letters in
Holland, France, and Germany for their civility in the
reception of my former essay. Especially I am under
deep debt to Dr. A. D. Loman of Amsterdam for the
bright example of gentleness, truthfulness, and humanity
which he has set in his writings, for the cordial friend-
ship he has extended to me, and the great pains he has
taken to assist me in the endeavour to solve this great
historical problem. I may name also Dr. W. C. van
Manen of Leyden, the late Professor Ernest Ilavet of
Paris, Professor Jean Kevillc, Dr. Harnack, and Dr.
Ltinemann ; their suggestions have received my re-
spectful attention. The lamented Dr. Hatch of Oxford
maintained in a recent essay that many so-callcd
“ primitive ” institutions of Christianity wore in reality
Mediaeval. It will be observed that I give a groat
extension to that proposition.

Curiously, my esteemed critics have complained of
me for omitting the New Testament from the sotirccs,
although I was required by the conditions of the ques-
tion to do so. It is no part of my present undertaking
to investigate in detail the New Testament. A great

INTRODUCTION.

13

idvance has been made in this direction by the Fensi-
milia of Professors Pierson and Naber (1886), with
whose results my own coincided at many points. But
[ may simply say in this place that it is clear the books
mce called the Apostle, the Boole of the Gospels, and
the Acts of the Apostles must be studied in relation to
:he Missal if a genuine New Testament criticism is ever
to begin. These books do not contain the history of
the causes ; they are themselves parts of the effects of
Christendom. They show the great Orders of Reh-
jious already formed, and represent in S3Tnbolic and
illegoric forms their ideals, their canons, their dogmata,
their visions and aspirations ; the enthusiasms of a
mode of life which is remote from ours.

The same principle must be applied to the Arabian
and the Jewish Scriptures. They also are the effects,
uot the causes, of organisations. Nor will our know-
ledge of this subject be improved until from other
sources than these oracular books we have ascertained
the epoch of the rise of those organisations.

Will the kindly reader indulge me to some extent
in the license of repetition ? Although I am stating a
series of commonplaces, they will appear so novel to
the mass of readers, that I am forced to remind them
again and again of the leading and decisive points
in the evidence. Moreover, the nature of the subject
renders repetition desirable, because we are forced to
return again and again to the same ground. Each
part of the evidence throws a gleam of light on the
position of the Church in time. But again the mists of
fable gather from other quarters, and the truth already
won is apt, without reiteration, to be forgotten. My
friend Dr. Loman says that my motto appears to be
Frappez vite, frappez fort, mais frappez toujours. I

14

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

would modify another motto, and say it must be with
me De Vemphase, encore de I’emphase, et toujours de
Vemphase, until I have succeeded in impressing my
points upon the reader. I have done little more than
play the part of pioneei', which circumstances have
forced upon me, into an ill-explored field of inquiry.
If I have explained the causes of our long ignorance
by laying bare the nature of our literary sources, if I
have defined more clearly the epoch at which the Chuiuh
arose in our world, and the nature of its earliest teach-
ing than my predecessors, I shall have accomplished
all that I intended in this work.

In meditating on this great subject, it recently
occurred to me to glance again at Cardinal Newman’s
Grammar of Assent, which I was reading in the
summer of 1871, and which I had scarcely opened
since. On p. 289, Newman refers to the opinion of
the paradoxical Father Hardouin, that most of our
Latin classics were forgeries of the monks of the
thirteenth or fourteenth centuries. I have never been
distressed by that suspicion. I have never thought
that Horace singing Lalage is in fact a monk singing
the praises of the Church, or that the jEncid is alle-
gorical of the journey of St. Peter to Itomc. Father
Hardouin’s discovery of wholesale Benedictine frauds
during the thirteenth and following ages appears to
have filled his mind with almost universal suspicion
towards the Latin literature. The suspicion was well
grounded ; even his favourite, Pliny, has not escaped
interpolation. But that the monks could produce the
finest classical quality of writing, even in the age of
Petrarch, few will beheve. Moreover, the motive must
have been wanting.

INTRODUCTION.

IS

But the Cardinal, in discussing the opinion, per-
tinently observes, “That all knowledge of the Latin
classics comes to us from the Mediaeval copies of them,
and they who transcribed them had the opportunity
of forging or garbling them. We are simply at their
mercy. . . . The existing copies, whenever made, are
to us the autographic originals. . . . The numerous
religious bodies then existing over the face of Emrope
had leisure enough, in the course of a century, to com-
pose not only all the classics, but all the Fathers too.”

I was led by these remarks to consult the works oi
Father Hardouin. To my surprise, I found that in his
posthumous^tf CensurcmVeterum Scriptorum Prolego-
mena (1766) he had anticipated the substance of what
I have had to say in these pages concerning the Basilian
and Benedictine literature by some two hundred years.
He denounces the ecclesiastical histories and the
Fathers and Councils as a system of fable. He reveals
to us the forgers sitting down in their scriptoria, with
sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, or tenth century ink and
parchments, and with corresponding alphabets, to write
works in the names of imaginary authors. He desig-
nates the producers of the first Church literature a
conspiracy, a wicked and impious crew of atheists,
whose virus had infected the Missal even, and the
Breviary. He was aware that he was attacking the
Benedictines of the thirteenth century, and he pointedly
says that he bears no ill-will to the Benedictines of his
own day.

He maintained, as he was bound to do, the genuine-
ness of the canonical literature, but his great object
was to emancipate the Church from dependence on
book tradition, with the exception of the Vulgate, and
to found her on “ oral tradition.” He thought that he

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

i6

might thus beat the weapons out of the hands of the
Jansenists and the Protestants in general, who appealed
to “Pseudo-Augustine” and other so-called Fathers.
The polemical objects of this extraordinary scholar
do not, however, concern me here. What Father
Hardouin had as a literary critic destroyed, he was
bound as a priest in some sort to try to build again ;
but in construction he certainly failed. '

The fact remains that, as a critic of the Church
literature of vast experience, he has never been refuted,
and that his critique in effect cuts at the roots of
the claim to antiquity on behalf of the Church. It
leaves her a purely Mediaeval institution, without either
literary or oral links with the past. For if the Patristic
literature be cancelled, which contains no slightest
proof of the existence of an oral tradition, but merely
the pretension to it, the oral tradition is simply a base-
less figment. I have been somewhat more conservative
than Father Hardouin, because I have admitted that
the military organisation against the Semites, which
began the Crusades, may during the latter half of the
twelfth century have been transforming itself into a
spiritual organisation, and that there may possibly
have been literary as well as military abbots before
that century closed.

Many a reader will thank me for calling attention to
this fascinating work of the great Jesuit scholar. It
appears to have been written in 1725-26, when he was
about eighty years of age, some three years before his
death. Nothing can be more impressive than to see the
aged priest firmly persisting in opinions which he had
long ago been required to retract by his superiors, and
supporting them by all the weight of experience de-
rived from a long life spent among books. The Bene-

INTEODTJCTIOIf.

17

dictine literary historians of 1754 have treated his
memory with respect, and have described a most enter-
taining scene which passed between him and one of
their Order in Pai’is in the year 1711. In the Bihlio-
theque of Jesuit writers (1872), edited by A. De Backer,
there is an inadequate account of these Prolegomena,
which the writer can hardly have perused, and which he
speaks of as “ refuted.” Hai’douin’s arguments in refer-
ence to the late origin of Patristic literature cannot be
refuted ; they will receive increasing confirmation from
all critical students of the Middle Ages.

The Prolegomena form the like useful introduction
to the Benedictine mythology that the Prolegomena
of C. O. Muller form to the old Greek mythology ; in
which relation there are some valuable remarks on
the last chapter of Mr. Grote’s first volume of the
History of Greece; also in the sixth chapter of Mr.
Buckle’s History of Civilisation. We shall never
understand our own English mythology until we
understand the habit of mind of the Benedictines, who,
under the influence of Jewish and Mohammedan teach-
ing, sat down to trace the descent of King Alfred and
the Bishop of London from Noah and from Abraham.

All that I have written is intended merely as an
introduction to the epoch of Church beginnings. I
hope that I have dealt with what is material in the evi-
dence ; nor can it be desirable that I should discharge
into my pages more of the distasteful fictions which
it has been my business to expose than is absolutely
necessary. The waste of labour over this subject has
been enormous, and the most useful thing one can do
is to prevent it from going on. I have done my best to
report faithfully upon the evidence ; but further, let me
suggest to the serious student a method by following

B

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

i8

which he will be enabled either to confirm or to correct
my conclusions. Let him, then, take up the Ecclesiastical
History ascribed to Niccphorus Callistus, and said to have
been written early in the fourteenth century. Let him
compai'e with it the first Ecclesiastical History ascribed
to Eusebius Pamphili ; he will convince himself of the
absurdity of supposing that an interval of one thousand
years elapsed between the two productions. They were
written very nearly at the same time, and they represent
the first effort at making out a Church theory of the
past. Let the student then ascertain what Dante, Pet-
rarch, and Boccaccio knew of the origin of the Church.
He will find it extremely difi&cult, by the aid of any
indications in those writers, to grope his way upward
throrrgh the preceding age, and to ascertain what had
actually been done in Church organisation at the time
of the death of the great Jewish legislator. He will
find that the literature must be used with the greatest
caution, and with constant glances of circumspection
at the state of an ignorant world.

For my own part, I am forced to think of the earliest
homes of the Church in the Campagna, at Subiaco,
Frascati, Anagni, Aquino, Monte Cassino; and her
cradle-period as the latter half of the twelfth century.
But I cannot trust what profess to be contemporary
sources ; while the admissions in the Papal annals of
the obstinate resistance of the magistrates and people of
Borne to Church invasions, together with the fact of the
flight to Avignon, are strong evidences of the struggling
condition of the monkish confederacy during the thir-
teenth century. It has never yet been ascertained at
what period the Bishop of Rome contrived to subordi-
nate the Prajfect of the city to himself, nor what was
the part played in the movement by the families of the

IlfTEODUCTIOK

19

Conti, of De Vico, of Colonna, and Orsini. Perhaps an
exhaustive examination of the evidence will enable a
critic to write some conjectural yet probable account of
those times.

Hei'e, then, I leave the subject for the present. I
write with no ill-will toward any Order or body of reli-
gious men, but rather to aid the movement in which
they are now to be engaged. For, to judge from recent
distinct utterances of a Roman and of an Anglican arch-
bishop, the word has gone forth, and the clergy are to
transform themselves into a body of moral philosophers,
of social reformers, and philanthropists. They are at
last to be the friends of the poor, the promoters of all
virtues, and enemies of all vices. Who will not bid the
clergy God-speed in this new mission 1 But are they
still to teach the canonical writings ? Those writings
plainly teach the clergy to follow the example of God,
who made Himself poor for men’s sake ; they exhibit the
perfect life, to which absolute renunciation of the world
is indispensable. If this is not intended by the arch-
bishops, then they have practically sat in judgment
on the enthusiasms of the primitive Orders, and have
rejected them as unsuitable to our age. How can a
mighty moral leverage be exerted on the multitude by
a body of men in whose conscience there is this self-
contradiction 1

And, again, if ethics are to be the main business of
the clerg 3 rman, teracity — the virtue that underwent
eclipse during the Middle Ages — wiU be revived. The
clergy will so teach that they will have nothing to
defend. And if the age of apologetic towards the
Mediseval traditions be past, the day of judgment will
swiftly foUow, and the day of condemnation. Any
writer who feels so strongly as I do the inability of the

20

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

clergy to accomplish a great work for the future of man-
kind, so long as they have not recovered their liberty,
will work for that object. I am no fanatic for old
Romanism, but I cannot conceive that there was ever
a nobler fraternity of teachers in the world than the
Stoical communion, or one better fitted to exert a
healthful infiuence alike over the minds of rich and
poor. If in this new scheme for the education of the
clergy, they are taught — after the advice of Chaucer —
not only to “ read David in his Psalms,” but also to
“read Senec,” that they may preach his ennobling
wisdom to the multitude, the gain will be great.

At the time of the Revival of Letters, some scholars
appear to have thought that after the long interruption
of seven hundred years, the world was about to rid itself
of the troubled tradition, half Roman and half Semitic,
which resulted from the Oriental invasion, and that it
would return to its inheritance in the schools of Greece
and Rome. It was the organisation of the Church
which defeated those bright hopes. Are we, at the
close of this great century, destined to renew that dis-
appointment and from the same cause ? One may not
be sanguine ; but it seems a reasonable expectation that
the next age will see the clergy reformed, and trans-
formed into a pure philanthropic brotherhood, enjoying
an eqxial freedom with that of the old guilds of philo-
sophers, with no interests apart from that of society, with
no message or dogma to deliver but the truths that
find response in the universal conscience of mankind.

I have looked with interest on the first mosque that
has been built on English ground. Our Mohammedan
friends may desire to learn something of us, but it is
we who have to learn from them in respect to the great

INTRODUCTIO:^'.

21

Mediseval tradition. They are the masters of it. They
are of the Orthodox Church ; theirs is the sublime theo-
logy and the inflexible logic. We o\ye it to the com-
mon civility of the great Empire to which we belong to
endeavour to correct the vulgar fables which have pre-
vailed since the fourteenth century in respect to their
religion, and to desist from affronting them with what
they must ever regard as a corrupt version of their own
sacred legends. We need no more controversy, but
mutual intelligence. And should a genuine study of
the Oriental systems be destined to flourish in the
West, it will be a great means of promoting that truly
Catholic and all-tolerant sentiment which is suitable to
the British no less than to the Eoman Empire.

CIIAPTEE I.

THE OBJECT OF THE INQUIRY.

The object of the present inquiry is to draw aside, if
possible, the veil which has so long concealed from us
the origin of the Christian religion, and of the great
Church from whence it sprang.

All origins are involved in obscurity, but a clear
distinction must be drawn between origins which are
secrets of Nature and those which are secrets of human
art. The origin of the physical universe is a secret of
Nature, but the origin of human universities, that is,
of corjmrations pervaded and governed by a unity of
idea and purpose, lies within the grasp of human in-
telligence. The Church, regarded in that light, may
be studied and may be understood by the guidance of
those general laws which account for the rise of insti-
tutions. Its origin can only be mysterious in the same
sense that all human societies arc my.sterious. The
facts may be difficult to ascertain and to fix in respect
of time, place, and person, but they are those of ordinary
experience.

If it bo maintained that the Church is a supernatural
society, the reply is that, in the opinion of the Church,
humankind is also a great supernatural society; and
if the one, so also the other is a proper object of histori-
cal inquiry. The Church herself has employed writers
to give an account not only of her divine origin, but
of her worldly course; and the object of inquiry is to

THE OBJECT OF THE INQUIRY.

23

ascertain wiiether the narrative of that woiidly course
has been traced in accordance with the facts or with
the probabilities of human life in the antique and the
Mediaeval world.

The great corporations that we call nations all possess
views of the past which are the product of poetic and
patriotic imagination. Such representations, forming
as it were a brilliant painted screen erected against
the dark background of the unknown, become part of
the spiritual treasures of the people. They appeal to
patriotic love ; they minister to the joy in the great and
beautiful; they reflect an abiding splendour on the
present day. When a nation, after long struggles, has
arrived at power and prosperity, the time of adversity
becomes endeared to retrospective fancy. The distant
scene is softened and mellowed ; figures of superhuman
excellence, contrasted with types of superhuman malig-
nity, arise in the imagination ; and the glory of national
champions is contrasted with the infamy of their foes.

Hence the unfailing charm of those fibue legends
which have enveloped the origin of the city origin of
of Eome in a luminous haze of poetry. The
pages of Livy, for example, have rather gained in
intellectual worth since the sharpened judgment of
modem times has learned to recognise in their noble
forms and vivid colours the efflux of the artist’s soul
rather than the reproduction of facts recorded in the
pontifical annals. Nor has Virgil’s divination of the
genius of the old Bomans, his picture of their martial
and civic greatness ceased to dehght us because we
know the ^neid to be a splendid fable of the Augustan
age. These works of art reveal the pride, the lofty
self-consciousness and self-love of a mighty people.
And if the value of history lies in its record of the soul

24

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

of institutions, of tlie passions and the ideals of the
men who made institutions what they were, then there
is the most precious history of Eoman sentiment and
character in the pages of Livy and of Virgil.

The Christian Church forms no exception to the
Origin of Corporations, in default of authentic

tiioOburcii. knowledge, or in reluctance to publish the
true facts of their origin, Avill have recourse to poetic
art to supply the void. The primitive Churchmen — that
is, the members of the two great Orders of St. Basil
and St. Benedict— proclaimed to the first audience they
could obtain at the rise of the Mediaeval universities,
that a new nation had come into existence at an
epoch near to that of Virgil and Livy. Their object
was to illustrate the Christian name, even as the old
Eoman name had been illustrated by those great
masters. But the Church never discovered a genius
— not even in Dante — equal to either of the old
Eomans, whom it might enlist in its service. Nothing
will perhaps better illustrate the vast chasm which
lies, both in point of time and of sentiment, between
the old Eoman and the Holy Eoman beginnings, than
a brief comparison between the Preface of Livy and
that of the unknown monk who first undertook to trace
the history of the Catholic Church.

The Preface of Livy is modest and manly. He is
The Profaco scnsiblo of thc immensity of his task, that of
of Livy. ascending the course of time through some
seven hundred years. He is aware that thc fables of poets
rather than genuine monuments form the tradition of
the earlier times. He thinks that antiquity may bo par-
doned if she mingles the human with the divine in the
first beginnings of cities, and so renders those begin-
nings more august. But if any people may consecrate

THE OBJECT OF THE INQUIRY.

25

its own origin and refer itself to divine authorsliip, then
the Roman people, so glorious in war, may refer its
parentage to Mars without offending the tribes of men
which endure the Roman Empire.

It certainly never entered the heart of Livy to con-
ceive that a manifestation of the Divine in human form
was near at hand, and that a great theological empire
was to be founded within the heart of the old order, des-
tined to be the som'ce of all prosperity to the Romans,
and to supersede their Empire. But such was the
theory of the first Church mythographers. Let the
reader’s thought move swiftly on to the time after the
first Crusades, when that Roman people, who had never
forgotten their traditions, were sternly resisting, amidst
riot and bloodshed, the efforts of the monks to set up
the cathedra of a high priest as ruler of the city and
the world. Then, looking back, he wiU see how deep
and dark and how impassable is the chasm which
sunders the old Roman tradition from that of the Holy
Roman Empire, which was the shadow and the faint
imitation of its predecessor.

What was the theory of the Holy Romanists ? Let
the dates in their mythographic structure be
for the moment neglected, and the mere
theory be the object of attention. An Eastern

bishop is supposed to be addressing a Roman emperor ; —
“ Our philosophy formerly flourished among bar-
barians, but it flowered out among your nations about
the great reign of Augustus, your ancestor, and became in

the highest degree to your Empire a fortunate blessing.
For from that time the might of the Romans increased to

that great splendour, of which you have become the de-

sired successor, and will be, along with your son, if you
preserve the philosophy which was nursed in the same

26

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

cradle with the Empire and began with Augustus ;
which also your ancestors honoured, in addition to the
other cults.”

The given names of the emperor and the bishop
signify nothing. The fable is audacious, and one of a
mass of the most audacious fables relating to the old
Eoman emperors, which disappear from the theatre of
genuine history in the light of the known facts of the
Empire. Another fable, relating to perhaps the most
glorious period of the Eoman Empire, is the following : —

“There went on” (amidst slanders, persecutions,
the constant pullulation of heresies), “ there went on,
increasing in greatness, ever alike and the same, the
splendour of the Universal and only True Church,
distilling the solemnity, the sincerity and freedom, the
temperance and piety, of the inspired policy and philo-
sophy, upon every race of Greeks and Barbarians. With
the course of time the accusation against the Dogma
has died out; and there has remained alone, prevailing,
and confessed for the most part to excel in majesty and
temperance, and in divine philosophic dogmata — our
teaching.”

Here then stands revealed, at whatever epoch, the
Catholic Church in her majesty and boundless preten-
sions to empire, such as they remain to this very day.
It was at the same epoch that another monk of the
same primitive Order put forth the dictum : —

“ The hcgintiing of all things is the Catholic and
Holy Church.”

The style of the monk is somewhat swollen and
Tiie rro-^^ ventose. In simpler language may be stated
tho mpt what he proposes in his preface to do for the
History.^*’**^ elucidation of the obscure past of the Church.
He will record —

THE OBJECT OE THE INQUIRY.

27

1 . The Successions of the Holy Apostles.

2. The distinguished men of various parishes.

3. The innovating teachers of the Gnosis, falsely so
called — the wolves in the fold of Christ.

4. The calamities of the Jewish nation in conse-
quence of the conspiracy against the Saviour.

5. Persecutions and martyrdoms.

He will begin this narrative with a theological
principle — the (Economy or Dispensation of Clu’ist.
He craves the indulgence of his readers, because he is
entering on a desert and untrodden path. He cannot
find the bare footsteps of human beings who have
travelled on this road. Some hints may be caught from
partial narratives, some voices maybe heard, some flicker-
ing torches on the heights may be discerned. He has
gathered up some scattered memorials, has plucked some
flowers from intellectual meadows. He will at least try
to rescue the Successions of the Apostles from oblivion.

The work, though dated in the time of Constantine,
was in reality written far on in the !Maddle and

Ages. It is, moreover, based solely upon a
theory, that of the Apostolical Succession. It has no
sources in fact; it supplies the void by a series of
historic fables. It forms the introduction to a great
system of monachic mythology. The writer, and those
who depend upon him, hardly pretend to veracity. They
write in the interests of orthodoxy and of edification
alone. They beg the question from the ground and
from the root. Orthodoxy will atone for the greatest
vices, while the brightest virtues may not redeem the
character of the heretic.

These writers have drawn a series of fanciful portraits
of Eoman emperors, and have singled out the best
of those princes as objects of malignant denunciation.

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

They have corrupted the genuine sources of our know-
ledge by the introduction of a ruass of interpolations
into the literature of the Empire. They have invented
edicts and codes, the contents of which would have
filled Roman statesmen with amazement and horror.
They have contrived a series of tales of the most
hideous description concerning martyrs, which, were
they credible, would represent the Roman Empire as a
theological madhouse, where some were smitten with
the frenzy of persecuting, others with the frenzy for
being persecuted. They have wronged the spirits of
the mighty dead.

It is in part with the view of recovering a juster
view of the old Roman Empire, and of the great men
who lived under it, that a rigorous examination of the
Church mythographers is here undertaken. It is pain-
ful to take up one’s pen not to detect an occasional im-
posture, to contradict an incidental lie, but to apply it
as a lever for the breaking asunder of a perfect system
of wrongdoing in the field of literature. It will be
shown that the dogma of the Apostolic Sue-
and the cession IS a clogma and no more, between
jacts. ■\vhich and tlie facts there lies an immense
interval. It is a dogma which appeals only to unin-
quiring credulity and passion, and which becomes as a
dream before any steady examination of the evidence.
It is a dogma which could only have been launched,
have been supported by force and submitted to, in the
darkest ages our world has ever known.

It is a great need that we should, even in this late
time, recover a correct representation of the past his-
tory of our world from the beginning of the Roman
Empire. Eor want of this, we have long been bewil-
dered as to our place and duties in the present. Some

THE OBJECT OF THE IHQUIEY.

29

loss, it may be, will be felt, or rather imagined, as
objects once thought to be real pass into the world of
the ideal. Yet if our earthly horizon only opens the
more widely, if our glance at the commonplace of exist-
ence becomes unfettered, if we leam to see the con-
tinuity of human life through all the ages the more
distinctly, the gain will be great. Science and imagina-
tion are each enriched by the discipline which separates
their respective provinces. The fidelity of the poet is
distinct from that of the historian ; and the facts which
claim the attention of the historian are not to be con-
founded with the impassioned dreams of the mystic.
The historian, according to any sound definition of
his office at any time, is bound not to impose upon
the world representations of what was not as if they
were reflections of what was, nor to treat the things
that were as if they had not been.

These are but broad rules, but they have been
utterly disregarded by the first historian of the Church,
Not that he was the only offender. Before him there
had been Orientals who, with the muscular activity of
imagination characteristic of their race, had bounded
over thousands of years as if they had been but days,
had planted themselves at the creation, and had thence
deduced the scheme of the world to their own times.
In the Middle Ages it may have been impossible for any
corporation to rule mankind except by means of theo-
logical fables. There lies in part a certain apology for
what the first Churchmen did. But their hterary deeds
have proved a deep injury to our conscience and our
culture, and we consent to that injury and prolong it,
if we refuse to submit their writings to the closest
scrutiny, and to correct their erroneous representa-
tions of the past.

3 °

THE EISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

And now to resume. It will be shown in the fol-
lowing pages that the whole system of Church
rfifie"']’™-* ideas originated in the Middle Ages, at an
■ epoch when every effort was being made to
redress the balance of power between Europe and Asia,
and to resist the great domination of the Orientals.
The first Church literature was solely the product of
the two great primitive Orders, who were united in
this enterprise.

The old Homan Empire had long run its course,
exhausted in its struggles with its foes in the East and
in the West. It had been replaced in Syria, Egypt,
Africa, Sicily, Spain by the empire of Islam, and by
the Teutonic kingdoms in the West. But down to the
end of the reign of Justinian, when our contemporary
sources fail, the faith and the ideas of the Homans had
remained substantially what they had been in the days
of Augustus. The Homans had never forgotten their
sacred legends of .lEncas and Homulus, had never
ceased to cherish the lore of poets who sung of Homan
virtue, and of philosophers who strove to lead them in
the path of wisdom. There was not a Homan in the
time of Justinian who dreamed tliat the city or the
Empire was to become the seat of an Oriental or semi-
Oriental propaganda, or that tiro memory of Homan
gods and heroes, seers and lawgivers, was to be eclipsed
by that of Arabian prophets and apostles.

It is because the literature of the Empire has come to
our hands from those of monachic editors, who have
added to and taken from the text in the interest of their
great dogma, that an illusion in this regard has ob-
tained, ever since the opening of the universities, in
the educated world.

During the period 800-900, the building of mosques.

THE OBJECT OF THE INQUIRY.

31

the foundation of schools of Arabian learning, was no
doubt going rapidly forward throughout the empire of
Islam, from Bagdad to Cordova. The Koran had pro-
bably assumed the form in w'hich we now possess it
during that period, and it was completed early in the
tenth century by the great Chronicle of A1 Tabari the
Persian, which yields us a clearer view of that great
dogma of the prophetical and apostolical succession
from Adam to Mohammed which is characteristic of
Islam.

Towards the close of the same century a people akin
to the Arabs formed themselves into a new religious
organisation in the land which they called Sepharad or
Spain, under the protection of their Muslim masters.
The first Sephardim in the field of letters, i.e., the
Spanish Eabbins, were known by Arabic names, and
probably passed outwardly for Muslim. Their early
school was Cordova; others were found at Seville,
Malaga, Toledo. Their literary activity was at first
secret, and they based it on the traditions of the
Arabians. They claimed, like the Muslim, to be chil-
dren of Israel, and they deduced their origin from the
younger, as the Arabians deduced theirs from the elder
son of Abraham.

The Spanish Rabbins had, as a matter of course, a
theory of a great Rabbinical Succession and of a Great
Synagogue, which served to lead imagination into a high
ideal past. But this theory proves, on examination, to
fab. under mythological law, abundantly illustrated in
the old Greek legends. It may be safely assumed that
nothing definite was known of the people or of their
priesthood until the foundation of the synagogues in
Spain. Their buildings show a Moorish parentage, as
their sacred language is the daughter of the Arabic.

32

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOIL

It may be said that the foundation of the whole syna-
gogue system dates from the period between Eahbi
Samuel the Nagid of Cordova and R. Moses Maimonides,
also a Spaniard, who settled at Cairo, and became the
great lawgiver and dogmatist of his people. The period
in I’ound numbers is 1000-1200.

From Spain the Rabbins went on their missionary
errands, and founded schools in Africa, Syria, and
Persia, in South and West France, Germany, and the
Crimea. If there was ever a period during Avhich the
teachers of the Mishna travelled over sea and land to
make proselytes, it must have been during that period,
when their hearts beat high in the hope of realising the
ideal kingdom of David and establishing another eccle-
siastical empire in tlic world. They suffered a terrible
blow at the time of the first Crusade. The records of a
previous persecution at Granada are faint and indis-
tinct, and those refen’ing to the Crusade relate to the
German synagogues. It is probable, liowevci', that they
all suffered ; and one of their feasts, with the explana-
tory legend in an allegorical form, bears witness to their
belief that at some epoch a great conspiracy was formed
with the object of extirpating them from the world.
It is to no other time that wo can refer the origin of
this belief.

They recovered from that blow; and though they
had to travel through a long valley of Baca, the wocfid
plaints from which arc familiar in all our ears, they
prospered under the peculiar conditions of the times.
The twelfth century is the great age of early Rabhin-
dom. It was then that their most colobratcd scholars
flourished ; then that Messiahs were often appearing to
restore the kingdom of David ; then that they began
to encounter the abbots at the head of their spiritual

THE OBJECT OF THE IHQUIEY.

33

militia, the monks ; then that the canon of the Old
Testament was completed and the New Testament was
begun ; then that the Christian system was founded
on a theory both of the great antiquity of the Jewish
people, and of the Christiani as an offshoot from them.

Here the root is touched of those fixed ideas and
illusions which have long proved so injurious to our
intellectual and moral culture. Had scholars taken
their stand at the time of Maimonides, and strictly con-
fined themselves to the question how much did he and
his compeers know of the origins of his people, the
question about the Jews would long ago have received
an analogous solution to that which we have arrived at
in the case of the Greeks and the Eomans. It would
have been seen that the dreams of a rising people about
its past are one thing, its actual appearance in history
another. But the monks exaggerated the Kabbinical
claim to antiquity to a pitch of the greatest absurdity.
The Bible is in greater debt to the Latin and the Greek
than is commonly known ; and yet it has been pre-
tended that the Hebrews were the elders of the Greeks,
and that Moses was the teacher of Plato. Hebrew is
one of the most vigorous but least cultivated of dialects,
the reflex of minds of great energy but narrow educa-
tion ; while Greek is the most magnificent monument
of highly endowed, deeply cultivated, and long labour-
ing genius that exists in the world.

The illusion in respect to the antiquity of the J ews
in S3aia is destined to disappear the moment that
Jewish critical scholars, of whom there are many in the
present day, refuse all complicity with the dreams of
the Rabbins, and still more of the monks of St. Basil
and St. Benedict. "We have some particulars of the

Rabbi Jehuda Halevy, and his enthusiastic journey

c

34

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

from Spain to Syria about the middle of the twelfth
century — a journey that seems to have ended in a cloud
of disappointment. We have particulars so late as
1267 of E. Nachmanides, who is securing some ruined
buildings near Jerusalem for a synagogue of some
dozen of his people. The settlement at Tiberias may
date from the twelfth century, but probably not earlier.
During the preceding four centuries and more, the
land was holy to its Muslim occupiers, the true authors
of the tradition about David and Solomon.

But not to enter here into further details, the figure
of Maimonides is the great landmark in the history of
the Synagogue. His people say of him that “ between
Moses and Moses there is not another Moses.” Since
the Moses of the ideal time is derived from the Moses
of the Arabs, the later Moses of the Jews is their true
lawgiver. He is believed to have passed away about
the year 1205. He had stereotyped the creed of Juda-
ism. In his time the Scripture lessons for the syna-
gogue had doubtless been completed ; the Mishna had
been begun.

A new world begins to appear from that time,
whether we glance at the seats of Judaism, of Islam,
or of Christianism in East and West. In Eome our
glance falls on the figure of Innocent HI., who is
epochal in Church legend. The great monastery of the
Benedictines at Monte Cassino, and all the cloisters
of the two Orders connected with it, are said to be in
the full tide of activity, and the foundations of that
great system of mixed ideas under which we have so
long lived have been laid. Glancing forivard a little
distance, we encounter the Emperor Frederick 11 ., the
favourer of the Muslim in Sicily and South Italy. It
is said that he listened to advocates of the three reli-

THE OBJECT OF THE IHQUHIY.

35

gions, and gave the preference to the Orientals over the
Christians. I£ we may venture to divine his thoughts,
he must have been well aware that Islam was the parent
of the other two.

It will tend to steady our attention and to fix it
upon the proper objects, if we imagine ourselves to be
students living at the court of that Emperor, and
busying ourselves in the work of critical examination
of the rival traditions of the Mosque, the Synagogue,
and the Church. It will be found, on attentive in-
spection of the evidence, that at the Emperor’s death
the schools of the Mosque had been some four hundred
years in existence, those of the S3magogue some two
hundred years, while those of the Church were in their
infancy. His reign witnessed the rise of the great
mendicant Order of St. Francis and the preaching
Order of St, Dominic, by whose agency the popular
infliuence of the Church was greatly extended, and
dissenters of Oriental persuasions were cruelly sup-
pressed. The advance of this second great line of the
Church army is another landmark of history. Some
of the most fervid passages in the Epistles and the
Gospels resume the spirit and the life which they have
long lost so soon as they are carried into the light of
the legends of the Franciscans concerning their ideal
saint. The spirit of enthusiasm, so fatal both for good
.and ill, has been aroused in the breasts of the mass of
the people.

But to return for a moment to the question with
which we began this chapter, the relation ^
of the Church to the old Homan Empire, tima^on tL
It was long after the reign of Frederick
that an Augustinian produced a celebrated work
on the new City or Church of God, which, as we

36 THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

shall show, has been antedated into an earlier age.
He follows in this work the general lines laid down
by the first ecclesiastical historian, but his composi-
tion is of a far more elaborate and finished character.
He expands the theme of the Church’s relation to
old Eoman times. He pretends that the Erythraean
Sibyl wrote certain manifest prophecies concerning
the Christ, that he had read in some poor Latin verses.
He produces them, and they form an acrostic on the
words ’I»/<roCj XpettTToj 0eoi7 vios a-wr^p. He points out
that the first letters of these words form the word
that is, fish, by which name Christ is mysti-
cally understood, because in this abyss of mortality,
as in the depth of waters. He could live — that is, be
without sin.

He produces also a pretended prophecy of the Pas-
sion from the same Sibylline source, and adds that
there are some who place the Sibyl not in the time of
Romulus, but of the Trojan war. He deduces” the
Nativity at Bethlehem wholly from the Hebrew prophet.
Chi'ist is declared to be “ man manifest from a human
virgin, God occult from God the Father.” His first
miracle is His birth, His last the Ascension. The whole
proof is drawn from an d priori, a metaphysical neces-
sity, and from literature allegorically and mystically
understood. Should the Sibylline verses, he says, prove
to be forgeries, still the Psalms and Prophets suflSce
for the establishment of the theory.

He proceeds to unfold his view of Roman history
from similar foregone conclusions. There must have
been ten persecutions, because there had been ten
plagues in Egypt. But he is embarrassed by the fact
that more than ten persecutions have been discovered
in Roman history.

THE OBJECT OE THE INQUIRY.

37

He draws a parallel and a contrast between Romu-
lus and Christ. The belief in the deity of Eomuius
Romulus was imbibed by the Romans with
their mother’s milk. The nations ruled by Rome became
also imbued by this idea. Not that they believed the
dogma, but they professed it for fear of offending
Rome. Rome herself believed, not from love of error,
but from error of love. The new state, on the other
hand, that is, the Holy Roman or Christian Empire,
did not believe in Christ, her celestial and eternal
Founder, because she was founded by Him, but be-
cause she believed, she must be founded. Rome,
already built and dedicated, worshipped her founder
in a temple as a god ; but the New Jerusalem placed
on the foundation of faith her Founder, Christ-God, so
that she might be built and dedicated.

Old Rome loved Romulus, and believed him to be a
god, but the new state believed in the deity of Christ,
and then loved Him. Old Rome was led into error by
love, but by right faith the divine state is to be led
into truth. We hear of Romulus what he did, not
what was prophesied of him ; we hear that men be-
lieved in his deification, but we do not know that he
was actually deified. Moreover, men confessed the
deity of Romulus from fear, but men overcame fear
and suffering in their eagerness to confess the deity of
Christ. The belief in Romulus produced no martyrs.

This curious argumentation from theories to facts is
not the eccentricity of an individual ; it is the consen-
taneous and organised argumentation of the servants
of the Christian Empire. They never depart from it.
They are aware that they have no facts, either in mass
or in fragments, to which they can point in confirma-
tion of it. They announce a dogma evolved out of their

38 THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

mystical consciousness ; they demand a blind assent
to it; they call that blind assent faith. They read
the dogma into writings where it is not to he found ;
they forge oracles which re-echo it. In obedience to
a theory, they call an army of martyrs into existence,
treat them as real persons, and ascribe to them suffer-
ings in defence of the theory of which the martyrs
themselves were the offspring.

It is a mistake to suppose that the Middle Ages were
wholly subject to unhappy dreams and hallucinations.
The Church theory of history was firmly laid down by
men the most shrewd and clear-headed, keen observers
of the condition of the world. It was a theory that fell
in with the militant and ambitious passions of the time,
and was therefore accepted by a large, interested class.
It came to be believed in that sense in which men say
they believe whatever they wish to act upon. To a
certain extent the saying of Tacitus, Fingunt simul
creduntque, was made good. A great confluence of
motives— fear, self-interest, love, hope— brought about
that state of passive acquiescence in the dogma which
the Churchmen call faith.

But to the modem student belief means an intelli-
gent state of mind produced by the knowledge of the
facts. It win he shown in the following pages that
the proud theory of a State or Church of God, a Chris-
tian Empire, founded in the reign of Augustus and
destined to survive all other empires, the theory so
long and so massively supported by the great sacer-
dotal Orders, is a theory not merely unsupported by
facts, but massively refuted by them.

CHAPTEE II.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND CHRISTENDOM.

I HAVE briefly to show in the following pages that the
Eoman Empire, firom its rise to its decline, from the
time of Augustus to that of Heraclius, was entirely
unconscious of any such revolution in religious affairs
as was implied by the introduction of Christianity.

The greatest effort was made during the Crusades by
the Basilian and Benedictine monks to make the facts
appear otherwise. The consequence has been that the
literary monuments of the Empire have come down to
us in a fearfully garbled, corrupted, and interpolated
condition, so that every branch of the evidence needs
to be examined with circumspection, that we may dis-
tinguish in this great palimpsest the old Eoman Scrip-
ture from the monkish over-scribble. Gratitude is
sometimes expressed towards the monks because they
preserved and handed down to us the classical letters.
To borrow one of their own illustrations, the gratitude
we owe them is of the kind that one feels towards the
robber, who takes our purse and leaves us our bare
subsistence. They have abstracted part of the litera-
ture of the Empire ; they have foisted their own theory
of the world upon the remainder. They have contrived
a great imaginative screen which has hidden from us
the old Eoman world, and which has at the same time
offered to us dream-pictures of a world as they wished it
had been.

39

40

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

It may need a steady and a studious gaze to dispel
the illusions they have created. But to those who seek
it, the truth is stiU plainly visible. The monuments of
the Empire, carefully reperused, not only reveal entire
ignorance of the Christian movement, but they supply a
mass of evidence condemnatory of those who strove to
pervert and distort their testimony, and to wring from
them false and dubious voices. Down to that great
epoch, the rise of Islam, neither the inscriptions, the
history of architecture, the history of religious rites,

' neither the laws nor the literature of the Empire, afford
! the slightest evidence of any religious revolution hav-
ing taken place in the Roman state. The Empire was
and remained neutral amidst a great variety of creeds
and cults. There was no toleration because there was
no persecution.

I. The Evidence from Inscriptions.

The inscriptions — I allude especially to the sepul-
chral inscriptions — have a still and ghostly tale to tell.
They offer the criticism of the silent dead upon all those
flourishing legends of the origin and sufferings of the
Christians by which we have been so long deceived.
These pathetic memorials of old culture have a weighty
burden to deliver. They are devoid of polemical pas-
sion ; they have been less open to the meddling hand
of fraud, and the massive effect of their meaning admits
of no contradiction.

What have they to tell us concerning the rise of the
Catholic Church? Had the tales of the monks been
even approximately true, the inscriptions should supply
powerful confirmation of the idea that Christians had
been swarming everywhere in the Roman world from

THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND CHRISTENDOM.

41

the beginning of the second century of our era. But
the first fact that arrests attention is the utter paucity
of any pretended Christian inscriptions, and the next
fact is that the pretended Christian inscriptions are not
Christian at all.

These pretended Christian antiquities of the Cata-
combs were a discovery of the fifteenth century : they
were a discovery, in fact, in the sense of an invention.
Those collected by De Eossi, Le Blant, and others, form
a mere driblet amidst a great mass of antique inscrip-
tions which show beyond dispute that the religion
which had been recognised in the first century con-
tinued to be recognised as long as any ancient tradi-
tions of Eome lingered in the hearts of the people.
Tombs and altars continued to be dedicated Dis Mani-
bus, to the deified spirits of the departed ; and there is
no reason to suppose that the beautiful and pious rites
of the Parentalia and Feralia described by Ovid were not
still annually practised by the majority of Eomans at the
close of the sixth century.^ The greater gods of Eome,
Jove Optimus Maximus, Mars, Apollo, and other deities
continued to receive reverential recognition to the end.

Oriental deities also claim a considerable share of
the inscriptions. Mithras, the Sol Invictus, to whose
legends and rites the early apologists of the Church
make reference in so pointed and sensitive a manner —

1 ‘‘ Est honor et tumulis : animas placate paternas,

Parvaque in extructas munera feite pyras.

Parva petnnt Manes : pietas pro diyite grata est
Munere ; non avida Styx hahet ima deos.”

— Fasii u. 533.

Cf. the remains of the treatise of Jo. Lydus of the sixth century. Late
in the Middle Ages, the Fasti of Ovid continued to he a study of delight
to those who described the Mirabilia, or wonders of the golden city. Cf. also
Agathias of the sixth century, v. 2,

42

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

Mithras, whose birthday feast on the 25th December
was destined to give way to the feast of the Nativity,
very frequently occurs. So do Isis and Osiris. There
are, moreover, numerous inscriptions relating to the
ministers of the old religions — to the priests and
priestesses, the sacerdotes, the antistites, the flamines
and the flaminicse. The only Pontifices Maximi are
the emperors themselves, who were wont to wear the
ofBcial Pontifical garb in time of peace.^ With the
exception of something spurious, relating to the noto-
rious “ Damasus,” there is no hint or trace to be found
of any papa or pontiflF in the Catholic acceptation of
the words.

It is impossible to resist the massive and overwhelm-
ing contradiction which is thus given, to the notorious
boasts of the apologists concerning the universal diffu-
sion of the Christian name during the Eoman Empire.
No student whose attention has been once steadily
fixed upon this subject can rise from the examination
of the volumes edited by Theodor Mommsen and others
without the conviction that our traditional views of the
origin of the Christians have been steeped in illusion.
It is but one of many experiences, which brand upon
the mind the ineffaceable impression that the monks
have not only not told us the truth, but that they have
actually smothered it beneath mountains of fable.

But this is not all. De Eossi, Le Blant, and others
have hastily assumed as Christian inscrip-

The Mono- -n • i • -i d

gram, the Sign tions ail m wincli the monogram occurs.

icoria. doubt in the notorious Eusebian story of
Constantine and the vision of the Labarum it is claimed

1 See the description of the insignia of Augustus in time of peace in Jo,
Lydns, De Magistrate ii. 4, who knows of no other pontiffs. Of. the list of
emperors as pontiffs in Corpus Inscr, Zat, Berol. 1873, part ii. pp.

1108 seq. Julian is the last named Imperial pontiff in this connection.

THE EOMAN EMPIRE AND CHRISTENDOM.

43

as the Christian sign of victory ; but the character of
the writer and of the miraculous story ought to have
aroused suspicion. We have nothing here but one of
the numerous attempts on the part of the Churchmen
to fabricate evidence where it was not forthcoming,
or to pervert extant evidence in favour of their own
views.

The monogram is notoriously of most antique origin.
It occurs, for example, in monuments of Isis and of
Pallas.^ It appears on coins of emperors of the fourth
century — for example, on those of Jovian — who must
have known what its real significance was, but who
have been falsely claimed, partly on this ground, as
Christians.

This is not the place wherein to examine the archaeo-
logy of the monogram and of the related sign of the
cross. Perhaps it may be said that the “ cross ” is
one of the oldest objects in the lore of Egypt and of
the West as a sign propulsive of evil spirits, and
hence pointing, as a sign of weal, salvation, victory.
Certainly in the times of the Empire the cross was
associated with Victoria, and golden victorioles were
probably as common in temples as in the time of
Cicero.'"^

The Egyptian Tau or Crux Ansata, the handled cross,
seen so constantly in the hands of Egyptian deities,
had perhaps a more directly religious signification.
The Basilian monks have endeavoured, though clumsily,
to turn it to account in their argument for the antiquity
of Christianity, and they say that it symbolised the life

1 Eckhel, Doct Numm., ii. 210. Eor Isis, I have found, but have been
unable to verify, a reference to Franz, 0 . 1 . Ghr., 4713b. The date is given
B.O. 137-138.

^ See the story in N, D., iii. 34. Suetonius tells of a Victoria carried at
the funeral of Augustus. Cf. Justin, xxxix. 2.

44

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

to come/ It seems probable that the monogram or the
cross on sepulchral Roman monuments had the mean-
ing of victory over death/ Other sepulchral signs — the
dove, the fish, the palm, the olive-branch, the anchor
— imply no religious revolution, and may be probably
explained from popular ideas concerning death and the
life to come, that are as old as the vrorld of thought
and sentiment.

The letters BM denote simply Bene Merenti, “to
the well-deserving,” a mark of respect to the departed.
Yet an enormous fraud has here been perpetrated by
ecclesiastics. The letters have been interpreted to
signify Beato Martyro, and in this way scores and
hundreds of imaginary martyrs have been called into
being. So late as the seventeenth century Bonfante
was thus discovering three hundred martyrs in the in-
scriptions of Sardinia, and Piacenza was allowed to
share in the precious boon.®

But we need not dwell upon these follies. The
Churchmen have made massive representations of the
prevalence of the Christian name in the early times,
and we are bound to demand massive confirmations.
Instead of this, we find that the famous monogram has
nothing whatever to do with the crucifix or with Chris-

^ Sozom, H, E., V. 17, on its connection wiLh the worship of Serapis.
The student will find similar things in the Basilian monk Cedrerius,
probably of the fourteenth century, Ccmpend., p. 325 P., also in J. Pollux,
Chron., p. 366, probably of the same age ; to which may also be referred
the Latin tracts ascribed to Tertullian, Apology^ and M. Pelix, Octavius,

2 It is needless to observe that the monogram had nothing what-
ever to do with such words as or xpeio-roj, or xpv^t 6 s. It is often

found in the reversed form : 5 <. In the form p and we seem to recognise
a transition.

® See Bonfante’s Triumph of the Saints qf the Kingdom of Sardinia^ 1635,
and Ciampi’s History of the Church of Piac&n/^a, Cl Muratori, Diss, 58.
Similarly, DM has been made to signify Deo Maximo/ Mementary
History of Art^ by N. D’ An vers, p. 55.

THE EOMAH EMPIRE AHD CHRISTENDOM. 45

tianity, and the sepulchres of the Eomans remain utterly
unconscious of the presence of any new body of reli-
gionists, or of a body of martyrs, whose horrible suffer-
ings for unintelligible reasons, occupied the crudely
artistic pens of the monasteries.

The ordinary oblong cross, supported by the winged
figure which we see on Imperial coins, is also „

1 . <• TT- . rr, ■ 1 1 1 The Cross as

the sign of Victona, of Tnumph, as the monks Sign of Tic-
in their efforts at adaptation very well knew.

The monk of Aquileia,^ who expounds the creed, is here
a good witness ; and the same triumphal, by no means
ignominious associations, inspire the prayers on the
annual feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Sep-
tember 14. It is in the light of these old feasts that we
can understand the enthusiasm kindled by the eleva-
tion of the cross in the year 1096. It expressed alike
the sentiments of revenge and of hope on the part of
the men of the West in their struggle against the
Oriental invader. We see already in the Plenary
Missals, which date perhaps from the thirteenth cen-
tury, that the sentiment of enthusiasm for the cross
has been fused with the idea of the Crucifixion. Much
obscurity has hence arisen ; and it is important, for the
sake of historical clearness, to observe that the martial
sentiment of the Crusaders for the old sign was inherited
from the times of the Empire, and could have nothing
to do with the Church legends concerning the igno-
minious death of God. Pride in the cross implied
antipathy to the Oriental conquerors. It did not imply
from the first that theological antipathy to the systems
of the Jew and the Turk and the infidel which was
bom and bred in the cloisters of the Orders of St. Basil
and St. Benedict.

1 Rufinus, Do Symbolo,

46

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

It has never yet been ascertained at what time the
crucifix or the representative of the Passion of
® ' Christ began to appear. No Catacomb picture

nor sculpture on sarcophagus reveals it. The Paschal
victim was originally the lamb ; and the acts of a pseudo-
synod only are cited to prove that in 692 the figure of
Christus Deus was substituted for the lamb. But in
truth it is entirely unsafe to assume that Church art
of any kind had begun a century before Giotto. The
whole myth of Veronica or Beronice and her hand-
kerchief points both to the poor quality and the late
date of aU stories of early Church art.^

Moreover, when the Crucified One does appear, He
is arrayed in a tunic and diadem, or He is in glory
above the cross. Nothing is more important, therefore,
than to distinguish the associations of the old world
cross, the exhibition of which puts demons or foes to
flight, from those of the Passionary cross or cruci-
fix, which especially denotes hatred of the Jews, and
from those of the stigmata or marks of the sacred
wounds.

It has cost us but a few paragraphs to state with
brevity the blankly negative result of our examination
of this branch of the evidence as to the existence of the
Church or of Christians during the period of the Em-
pire. The candid reader will naturally not be content,
in a matter of so much moment, with our assurances.
But if he imbues his mind with the sense and signifi-
cance of the inscriptions, as they lie before him in any
of the miscellaneous collections, he will discern that he
is still in the old Koman world, and that nothing but
the ingenious and easily-detected device of appropriat-

1 Gregorovius, Gesch. d, Stadt Eom,, ii. i88, 212 ; Milman, Lat. Chris-
tianity, iv. c. 4 ; Baronins on the Trullan Synod, xii. 1 19.

THE EOMAN EMPIRE AND CHRISTENDOM.

47

ing to the Christians an old sign of victory and glory
has given any colour to the loud assertions that multi-
tudes of them had been put to death in horrible tortures
of fiendish ingenuity, and for unexplained reasons, by
emperors and rulers of Eoman provinces.

Let us, though late, the more thoroughly make
amends to the spirits of the mighty dead. The debt
of our culture is heavy to the men and the institutions
of the Roman Empire. If vve cherish any longer the
Mediaeval misrepresentations on this subject, we do deep
wrong to our friends in the vporld of the departed, and
we wilfully obscure the lustre of the Roman majesty.^

II. The TJvidence from Coins.

We pass on to the closely-related evidence from coins.
In important particulars the coins of the emperors flatly
contradict the statements of the ecclesiastical historians.
Eor example, the latter claim Phihp (244-249) as the
first Christian emperor,^ although one of their number
frankly explains that this has been done on the usual
d priori principle. The year 247 was the thousandth
year of the city of Rome ; therefore Philip must be
a Christian, in order that that year "‘might be dedi-
cated to Christ rather than to idols.” ® This statement,
together with the conventional story of Philip’s sub-
mission to clerical domination in Eusebius, is suflGl-

1 On tie monogram see tlie learned discussions of Letronne, and Raoul
Eochette, de V Acad, des Imcr., xvi. 284, and the articles in Herzog,
1882 (G. F. Piper), in Martigny, in Smith and Wace's Dictionary. It is to
be hoped that some scholar will attempt a careful historical analysis of the
inscriptions, and show from them what was the real condition of religious
affairs in the Empire before the rise of Islana.

2 Eus., jBT. jK, vi. 34 ; Orosius, vii. 20, 2.

® Exc. Yales., sec. 33.

48

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

cient self-refutation. But a coin of Philip "with the
inscription Ex oraculo ApolUnis clearly proves that he
was an adherent of the old cults.^

The coins of Jovian (363), who, as Ammian relates,
practised extispicium in the camp, and who was, like
his glorious predecessor Julian, an old Eoman, show
the signs of Victoria, the monogram of the cross.^
About the middle of the fifth century, the simple
oblong cross with the figure of Victoria begins to appear
on the Imperial coins. We still have before us the
symbols of unconquered Rome. There is no Oriental
or sectarian allusion whatever in the emblem.®

At length we arrive at the period in which, as we
have seen, the crucifix has been said, and falsely, to
have first appeared, in the seventh century. There are
coins of Justinian II., horribly nicknamed Rhinometus,
sole emperor (685-711), They bear the inscription —

Dominus Justinianus Servus Christi.

In a standing attitude, the emperor grasps the cross,
which rests on a step, presumably of an altar. Or
we see a globe surmounted by a cross, and inscribed
Paa;. Or the right hand of Christ, as King of Kings,
is raised in the act of blessing. A book is also seen,
doubtless intended for the Book of the Gospels. This

1 Eckhel, vii. 321. Of. Waddington and Liebas, Inscr., iii. 2075-2076.
The father of Philip is a god (0e6s), and himself, as usual, Pontifex Maxi-
mus. Cf, Inscr, African Lat, 1881, ii. p. 1049.

2 Eckhel, viii. 147. Cf. Ammian, xxv, 6, i. We shall have separately
to speak of the glaring interpolations in the Eex Gest(B which make Julian
an apostate, and the dissipated Jovian a zealot for the Christian law, xxv.
10, 15. In Rufinus, H. ii. i, see the absurd story of his sudden conver-
sion, with that of his army.

3 See the coins of Valentinian III., of Pulcheria, Majorian, Libius
SeveruB, of the period 425-465.

THE EOJIAH EMPIRE AHD CHRISTENDOM.

49

is the beginning of a new epigraphy and type frequent
afterwards on coins.^

On the coins of Leo. IV. and Constantine VI. (775-
780, 780-797) appears the inscription : — ■

IHSrS XPISTTS NICA.

Were these coins genuine, they would enable us to
fix an important epoch, the beginning of Catholic influ-
ence at the Roman court. These coins, however, are
undoubtedly frauds, as will appear on a fuller considera-
tion of the evidence.

Pope Hadrian I., according to the Church tradition,
sat in the chair of Peter 772-795. We ought j c • s
to be more certain of his coins than of those
of the Eastern emperor. Yet the critical history of
Papal coins has brought genuine coins down to a
very late date indeed. Cinagli rejects as spurious all
coins prior to Hadrian I., but offers no evidence of the
genuineness of the latter. A review of far later coins
teaches us decisively to reject them. Prom about 984
occurs a vast gap in the Papal coins. There are two
ascribed to Leo. IX. (1049-1055) and Paschalis II.
(1099-1118). There is a spurious coin of John XVI.
(982) in Cinagli. An absurdity of the seventh century
is produced in Maffei’s VeronM Illustrata. Under
such conditions of evidence we may applaud the pru-
dence of Buonanni, who appeared to hold that no
coins before Boniface VHI. (1291) can be trusted, and
who begins his collection from Martin V. (1415). It
may now be assumed that none are genuine before the
latter date.

Prom this standpoint let us glance for a moment at

1 Eckhel, viii. 228, 479, 685 ; Ducange, Dissert, de Infra JEvi liumm.,
see. 43.

D

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

the notorious legend of the conversion of Constantine
and the apparition of the “Laharum” or vic-
torious sign in the sky. In connection with
Labarum. cvidence aheady adduced and hereafter to

be supported, it is impossible to date the genesis of that
legend earher than the time of the Crusades. It was
the time when military men came under monkish influ-
ence, and when the monks themselves constituted a
fierce spiritual militia ; when the soldiers of the Orders
of St. James and St. John guT on the sword in the
form of the cross, and when the contemplative men of
the cloisters dreamed of great defenders of the faith in
the past. The anterior world of Church story is an ideal
world. In point of fact, there is as much and as little
to be said for the conversion of Constantine as for the
conversion of Clovis, which closely resembles it. The
picture in the “ Triclinium ” of Leo III., which repre-
sents Charlemagne with the Labarum and the Pope
with the keys of St. Peter, is not less and not more
authentic than the picture of the alliance of Constan-
tine with Sylvester. Ecclesiastical ideas repeated them-
selves in proleptic, mythic, duplicated representations,
not of what the past had been, but of what the artists
considered it ought to have been.

In this hght again we should reconsider the tales
legend of penned by writers in the scriptoria of W estern
Victoria. monasteries concerning the downfall of
“ Paganism,” and the removal of the figure of Victoria
horn the Senate-house. These writers may place their
productions under the august patronage of an “ Am-
brose” or a “ Prudentius,” illustrious names of their
own invention ; but they could not have penned down
those tales until the monastic system and the monastic
literary confederacy had been finally established. All

THE KOMAN EMPIRE AND CHRISTENDOM.

51

talk of Pagans, in the ecclesiastical sense of the word,
is a sheer anachronism until deep in the Middle Ages,
when the old popular rites had been driven to their rural
strongholds. There were no Pagans, except in the old
and respected Eoman sense of the word, during the
fourth or fifth century of our era. Nor was Paganism
overtlu’own, because it did not exist. No Victoria
could have been removed from the Senate-house by
Christian emperors in the fourth century, if there were
no Christian emperors to give the order. The obvious
tendency of these tales is to detach the cross from its
old Eoman association with the idea of victory, that
they may confuse it rvith the new idea of the crucifix.

The reader may peruse again, in the light of what
we have advanced, the somewhat unfortunate chapters ^
in which Gibbon deals with the “ splendid and brittle
mass ” of fable relating to the vision of Constantine
and the sign of the cross. He speaks fallaciously of
“the rapid fall of Paganism,” and he has been cor-
rected by Milman. The system of old Eoman customs
could not and did not dissolve in any sudden and
miraculous way. Nothing is more tenacious of life
than old religious custom. Temples and the images
remained wherever there was shelter from the icono-
clastic blast from the desei*t of Arabia ; nor can we, by
any direct evidence, ascertain at what epoch the crucifix
replaced the cross on the Capitol, in the Forum, or the
Pantheon. Gibbon should have seen that his sources
of information on this subject were all late, interested,
and dishonest. Had he returned in thought to his
station on the Capitol, and watched the first party of
Crusaders who passed through Eome, he might have
convinced himself that at that epoch — a century and a

^ Chaps. XX., xxviii.

52

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

half before the coming of the Franciscans — the cross
inspired men’s breasts with ardour who as yet knew
little or naught of the meaning of the crucifix.

This contrast between the military and the theologi-
cal sign — the labarum and the crucifix, the symbol of
triumph and that of shame — is of extreme historical
interest. It helps us to measure the profound chasm
in point of time and in point of sentiment which
opens between old Eomanism and Mediaeval Komanism.
Victory and weakness, triumph and humiliation, are
ideas that do not readily blend in the image of the
same person. Yet the Churchmen have laboured to
unite them. By a multitude of fantastic similes they
contrive to find the reflection of the cross in every object
of nature and of human art. Armies are constantly
routed by the mere exhibition of it in the hands of a
St. Martin or other heroes of the cloister. But there
is no such connection of cause and effect in the case
of the crucifix, which speaks of defeat, ignominy, death.
It cannot be denied that it is a great poetic effort which
represents that God in human form voluntarily sub-
mitted to a shameful death that He might ascend to
the supremest throne and receive the homage of the
universe.^

III. The Feasts of the Soocred Year.

The origin of annual popular feasts is obviously one
of the strongest clues to the origin of institutions con-
nected with them. Could we fix the epoch at which
the Epiphany began to be celebrated in any part of
the old Eoman world, we should be very near to the
beginning of the Church itself. She could have made

1 Jolrn xii. ; Phil. ii.

THE EOMAN ElIPIEE AND CHRISTENDOM.

53

no great way among the people until Chi’ist had replaced
Sol, the new sun who is bom afresh at the winter solstice,
and until the feast which commemorated the days of
good King Saturn had acquired a new theological
colouring. When did the natal days of gods, heroes,
or emperors give place to those of confessors, martyrs,
and saints 1

The change Avas immense, and could have been but
very gradually effected. The old Roman customs Avhich
we find described in the Fasti of Ovid, in the Nodes
AtticcB of Aulus Gellius of the second century, and
the Saturnalia of Macrobius of the fifth century, in
the treatise On Months of Joannes Lydus of the sixth
century, continued, there is no reason to doubt, in
Rome, as long as any old Roman form of life remained.
The last of those writers, one of the latest of the Empire,
has no suspicion of any coming change.

The ecclesiastics, however, i.e., the Benedictines,
offer us two presumed antique calendars, the „

f .-I T T-.. T->n •! 1 T 1 Supposed

lormer ascribed to D. rhilocalus, and the year ohurch
354. Here the 25th December is marked as
the natal day of Sol Invictus. But certain black or
unlucky days in each month are marked, not as dies
posteri or dies nefasti,^ but as JEgyptiac days. The
term is ecclesiastical and Mediaeval,^ and, for the fourth
century, an anachronism.

The next calendar we have is that ascribed to
Ptolomseus Silvius (a.d. 448-449). It is not wholly
Christian, but in this interval of about a century some
Christian feasts are supposed to have been introduced.
What are they ?

January 6. — The Epiphany. The star was seen

1 A. Gellius, V. 17 ; Macrob., JS., i. i6,

2 See the Augustinian on Galatians iv. lo ; Ambrose, Ep. 23, n. 4.

54

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

which announced our Lord. The water was made wine,
and the Saviour was baptized in the river Jordan.

February 22 . — The birthday of St. Vincent the
martyr.

Mareli 2 5. — The Crucimission of the Gentiles. Christ
suffered on this day.

March 27. — Lavation. Eesurrection.

August I. — The martyrdom of the Maccabees.

August 10. — The birthday of St. Laurence the martyr.

August 12 . — The birthday of Hyppolytus the mart5a'.

December 25. — The birthday of the Lord in the body.

December 26. — The birthday of St. Stephen the
martyr.

These data must have been inserted from some early
Missal, and it is needless to observe that there was no
Missal in the fifth century. But that these particulars
are wholly anachronistic is shown by the remains of
John the Lydian’s writings. He was a state oflficial
under Justinian I., and was well acquainted with the
whole administration of the Empire. It is sufficient to
peruse his work De Mensibus to see that the old feasts
were being celebrated much as in the time of Ovid,
while his treatise on Magistrates shows that he had no
knowledge of any ecclesiastical Pontiff or any Catholics,
except the fiscal oflficers, who bore that name under the
Empire, who were , called in Latin Rationales, minis-
ters of the Imperial exchequer. These calendars, then,
are not genuine. The term “ .iEgyptiac days ” is to
be found in other calendars of the Middle Ages pro-
duced by Muratori. We have simply before us another
attempt, and a clumsy one, to represent that during
the most famous period claimed, and claimed falsely,
for Church literature— from the middle of the fourth to
the middle of the fifth century — the feasts of the Nati-

THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND CHRISTENDOM.

55

vity, the Passion, and the Resurrection were coming into
observance. That the monks of East and West, who
introduced so great a mass of martyrologies of saints
during the Middle Ages, have forged nothing better
than these calendars in support of them is a great
weakness.

Apart from the massive confutation of the genuine-
ness of these calendars in the old Roman monuments,
they are condemned by the inconsistency of the forgers
themselves. The Churchmen do not pretend that the
new era from the Incarnation was recognised till the
sixth century. And yet they dare to tell us that the
Emperor Julian, though secretly an unbeliever, pre-
tended, for the sake of popularity, in the year 360
at Vienne, to adhere to the Christian cult ; that
he went to church on the feast of the Epiphany in
January.^

The reason why at first they fixed on the 6th January
for Christmas was that the Second Adam might appear
on the same day with the first. The calendar is, in
short, deduced from the dogma, and then antedated into
a time which anticipates the existence of the Church
by many long ages. It is part of the same system by
which monks of the thirteenth century make a retro-
spective bound over more than eight centuries, and
point to one “Rufinus of Aquileia” as the authority
for the Apostles’ Creed ; or by which they, who have
just become acquainted with the customs of the syna-
gogue, pretend that the question of the Passover was a
burning one so early as the fourth century.

In this branch of the evidence, then, again the pre-
tensions of the Church to antiquity meet on all sides

1 Ammian, B, (?., xxi. 2, 4, one of the ntimerous flagrant interpolations
in that work.

THE KISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

S6

with, a crushing denial — from the records of the Ara-
bians, the Jews, no less than of the old Eomans, and
their own self-contradictoiy writers.

IV. The Evidence from Roman Laws.

Among the dubious honours which have been
showered by the monks upon the names of certain
Roman emperors, and the calumnies with which other
Roman emperors have been assailed, it is noticeable
that Justinian has been singled out as a Church legis-
lator and as a church builder. His consort, Theodora,
has been made the object of perhaps the vilest lam-
poon that has ever disgraced the pages of literature.

We have here briefly to show that the Emperor
Justinian w’’as never guilty of the horrible persecuting
legislation “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”
which has been ascribed to him.

The Monk of Gemblours, Sigebert, who is said to
have lived in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, is one
of the first to enrol Justinian in the list of ecclesiasti-
cal writers, on the ground of his having composed a
code of laws in favour of the Church. The genuine-
ness of this code is, however, decisively disproved by
the contents of the Institutions and the Digests, no
less than by the whole weight of evidence that can be
collected relative to the actual condition of the Roman
Empire. The whole history, indeed, of the pretended
efforts of this emperor in legislation is one so self-
contradictory and absurd, that it ought long ago to have
excited the attention of critics. It belongs probably
to the thirteenth century, to the period when legal
study was reviving in Italy, and when the notorious
Canons of Gratian were fabricated.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND CHRISTENDOM.

57

Now the Imperial Institutions — that hornbook of
Roman iurisprudence, as Mr. Austin has Things sacred,

Religious,

styled it— clearly lay down the law in respect and Sanot.
to religious affairs. Under the text De Behus Nullius ^
we read that of this quality are ; —

Sacred Things.

Religious Things.

Sanct Things.

What is of divine right, says the text, cannot be the
property of any one.

“ Sacred things are those which have been duly con-
secrated to God (or a god) through the Pontiff, such as
sacred buildings, and gifts (donaria) which have been
duly dedicated for the ministry of God, which things
by our constitution we forbid to be alienated and obli-
gated, except for the sake of the redemption of captives.
If any one by his own authority has constituted a thing
sacred to himself, it is not sacred, but profane. But
the place in which sacred buildings have been built,
even though the building has been destroyed, remains
sacred, as Papinianus has written.”

There is not a word here which points not to old
Roman ideas and usages, such as we find illustrated in
Roman men of letters, from Virgil and Ovid down to
Macrobius.

Again, under the text “ On Religious Things,” we
read : — “ Any one may make a place religious by his
own will, by the burial of a dead body in his place,” &c.

The passage is important, because it reminds us of the
fact that with the Romans, as indeed with the Eastern
peoples, the idea of religion was intimately connected
with their reverence for the departed. The tomb is
indeed ever the centre of all popular religious observance,

^ Lib. ii. tit. i.

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

S8

as it signifies the continuity of human life, and knits the
departed to the living in one great communion.^

Finally, the text “ On Sanct Things ” says, more
vaguely, that they are such as the vralls and gates of a
city. Walls are sanct because the penalty is capital
against those who have been guilty of any delinquency
against them. The prototypical myth of Komulus slay-
ing Remus is a reflection of these ideas. We are in the
old Roman world, and there is no recognition whatever
of any special privileges enjoyed by any church or
religious community.

Again, had any church or universitas been recognised
^ and established by the state from the time of

Constantine, we should have found traces of
it in those authentic compilations of Roman law. There
is no trace of anything of the kind. The property of a
university is defined as distinct from that of individuals,
and the examples given are “ theatres, stadia, and the
like,” or anything that is common property of cities.

The slight manner in which religious affairs are
dealt with in the laws only goes to confirm the know-
ledge we have from other sources of the perfect toler-
ance, or rather the indifferent equity and ignorance of
the very principle of intolerance, under the Empire.

We open the pretended Codex, and plunge at once

The False ^f™osphere of the greatest ferocity

Oodei of against all sects which dispute the pretensions
of the Catholic Church. It is needless to do
more than point out the strange illusion under which

^ The ancient temple rose above the tomb, and all onr great Mediaeval
churches, following the same law, derived their venerable character from
the martyrs’ hones beneath the altar. The tales of the discovery or the
transference of the bones of saints are the forms under which the monks
announced the building of new churches, and the multiplication of churches
necessitated the multiplication of those profitable tales.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND CHRISTENDOM.

59

we have laboured in accepting this Code. So acute a
mind as that of Montesquieu obseived that in the course
of a few years under Justinian, jurisprudence varied
more than during three hundred years of the French
monarchy. Yet, accustomed to think of the Church
as a maddening influence, he did not draw the true
inference from such representations.

The Codex Theodosianus is another ecclesiastical
fabrication. It is falsely dated into the reign , ,

® The “Codex

of the second Theodosius, and makes a still Theodosi-

SrllllS*

more frightful exhibition of the persecuting
spirit against “Jews, Manichees, and Pagans.” They
are to be harried out of house and goods, to be exiled
or cast to the flames. And yet the emperors are repre-
sented as so fickle and uncertain of their own minds in
respect to the Jews, that within a few months they issue
contradictory edicts, now protecting and now menacing
that unfortunate people. We know not whether any
part of this Code contains genuine documents, but most
certainly all that relates to Christians and their rivals
is an anachronism. The one criticism which kills the
whole representation is this : there were no such Orien-
tal sects known throughout the Koman Empire at that
time. And one can well picture the astonishment of
the Preefect Macrobius, or any Roman gentleman of the
fifth century, had they heard that they were “ Pagans,”
and liable as such to the penalties of the law ! One
wearies of the mere absurdity of such contemplations.

Another attempt to drag in the Jews and their Mishna
occurs in the false Novelloe ascribed to Jus-

. . T • 1 1 « T Novelise.

tinian, wherein also there is much concern-
ing church-building and the privileges of monasteries.
These allusions are also utterly anachronistic, and they
deserve no other criticism.

6o

THE RISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

I lay my hand calmly upon the genuine monuments
of Eoman law, believing that they witness on the whole
to the wise and enlightened spirit of a great people,
and that they silently protest against the injurious
thoughts we have been taught to cherish against a
succession of emperors who wore the purple worthily,
and were entangled in no such theological frenzy as
the monastic fancy has been pleased to ascribe to them.
The people looked upon these men as on their way to
the gods, and if they themselves did not always feel
godlike, they were never suffered to forget the duties
of civility, and stiU more of that clemency which was
an imitation of Heaven.^

Under the Roman Empire it was the crimes of high
treason, of conspiracy, of adultery, and illicit arts that
were most severely punished. And had such a great
thiasos or confederacy as the Catholic Church been
detected at any period, we should have heard of the
sufferings of its members, not as martyrs to mono-
theism, but as traitors to the purple and the person of
the emperor in setting up a rival system to that which
he represented. There is no trace of such events in the
historians of the Empire, or of any such rebellion
against the authority of the Imperial Pontiff. It is
only when we imagine the lapse of many ages, and the
revolution introduced by the zealous theocrats from the
East, that we can at all realise how the old Roman
customs could have been suspended in any part of the
Empire. Let us honour Justinian as one who, like the
glorious Julian, knew the value of our Western culture,

^ I luay cursorily allude to other Mediseval Codes, such as the Yisigothic
Code, the Burgundian Code, and that ascribed to Charlemagne, which pro-
ceeded from the clerical imagination, and for which no other historical
basis can be found. They may be referred to the period of the rise of the
universities.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND CHRISTENDOM. 6i

and did his utmost to stem the inroads of barbarism ;
who was not guilty of establishing a Holy Inquisition,
and of sanctioning by his example the cruelties of the
thirteenth century.

V. The Evidetice from Architecture.

There have been ascribed to Procopius, the historian
of Justinian’s time, works of which he was quite guilt-
less, viz., a treatise on Building and that foul Historia
Arcana to which we have already adverted. It is time
that we should no longer confound the true Procopius
with the monks, who utter their inventions and their
basenesses from behind his mask.

The figure of Belisarius, a genuine old Roman, and
the commander of an army of true Romans — Belisarius,
the deliverer of Carthage, Rome, and Ravenna — adorns
this reign. There is not the slightest reason to suppose
that the morale of the court was lowered in tone from
what it had been in the time of Claudian. The philo-
sophers were stiU teaching, and the people were still
receiving those lessons of virtue which had made the
Romans great. The severest efforts and sacrifices were
being made to preserve the Empire from the inroads of
Goths and Vandals in the West, and Persians in the
East. And yet, in our indolent credulity, we have
allowed ourselves to believe that in such a time as this
'■the emperor was seized with a frenzy for extravagant
expense, for rapine and extortion, and for the building
of churches, while the awful dignity of his purple was
sullied by his alliance with the most abandoned of
harlots.^

^ The Historia Arcana^ discovered by Alemanni, was written by a monk,
and perhaps designed obliq[uely to strike at another lady Theodora.

62

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

It has cost the author of the treatise ou Building
nothing but some strokes of the pen to call
chSe7of into existence a number of churches founded
Justinian, Emperoi* Justinian. They have never

yet been discovered to have existed except on paper.
They are more imaginary than ancient Troy or Tiryns.
Nay, strain our eyes as we will tlxrough the darkness
and the mist from Thorney by the Thames to ^Elia or
to Constantinople, it is not until more than six hundred
years have elapsed from the time of Justinian that
we can begin to discern the slowly rising pile of a
Christian church.

The monks of St. Basil, in their so-caUed Church
histories, vaguely speak of the places of worship of the
Christians as oratories, houses of prayer, or Lord’s
houses. They speak also of Hyperoa,^ or upper
rooms, a term to be found in the canonical writings.
They speak of the Jewish places of prayer by the sea-
shore as ProseuchcB, and of their own as Proseuhteria.
If the eleventh century of our era is the earliest age in
which we can think of the Eabbins as venturing to
gather their flocks in public synagogues under the
eyes of their Arabian masters, we can understand the
faintness of the allusions to buildings in the Basilians
of a later age. They refer also to cemetei'ies, which, as
private and rehgious ground by Roman law, probably
offered shelter to forming confederacies and sects.
Under the Empire, temples were not seldom the
haunts of conspirators. For example, in the reign of
Constantins and Julian,® a political conspiracy was
detected in the temple of the god Besas in Egypt, and
severely punished. And it is a curious circumstance

1 Bingham, Ant., chap. viii.

* Ammian, xix. 12, 3.

THE EOMAN EMPIRE AND CHRISTENDOM. 63

that the first ecclesiastical historian, writing, as we have
probably shown, in the thhteenth or fourteenth cen-
tnry, has actually ventured to claim Besas as a martyr
or soldier of God.^ The monks appear to have used
the terrible details of Imperial prosecution of political
criminals in the fourth century in the contrivance of
their martyrologies.

In the Acts of St. Justin,^ Justin is supposed to tell
a Prsefect of the city of Eome that he has a lodging
at the Tridentine Bath over one Martin, and that he
knows of no other meeting of the Christians. In
all the mass of the Church literature referred to
early times, it is impossible to fix in the mind’s
eye upon a single public building consecrated to a
new worship. And this, in spite of a series of pas-
sages inserted in the literature of the Empire which
speaks of bishops, priests, and deacons, of monks
and nuns, constantly appearing in the most unexpected
places, and under the most unexpected circumstances.
Once in Ammian a pretender to the purple is said to
have been slain at Cologne on his way to a “ conven-
ticle of the Christian rite.” The false Novellas still
speak of houses of prayer {eukterioi oikoi), rather than
of basilicee or ecclesise.

In the course of our search for authentic particulars
of churches in Eome before the twelfth cen-
tury, we come upon strange and clumsy de-
scriptions of an imaginary Eome. Thus Zacharias, a
Churchman referred to Justinian’s time, talks of two
magnificent basilicas, “in which the Emperor dwells,
and the Senators meet daily before him.” He talks
also of twenty-four churches of the Apostles, also of
eighty golden statues of the gods, sixty-six ivory ones,

1 Eus., H. E; vi. 4.1, 16. ® Sect. 3.

64

THE KISE OF CHEISTEHDOM.

bronze statues of emperors and other Duces, 3785 ;
twenty-five bronze statues relating to Abraham, Sara,
and kings of the stock of David, which Vespasian had
brought to Home after the destruction of Jerusalem.
There were also thirty-one theatres and eleven amphi-
theatres.^

If the story of Justinian’s church-building activity
is a baseless fable, still more so is that concerning
Constantine and Sylvester. Could we know the date
at which the feast of the dedication of the Church of
our Saviour on the Lateran (November 9th) began to
be celebrated and was inscribed in the Missal, we
should not be far from the actual date of the founda-
tion. It could not have been held till late in the
twelfth century, for we do not hear of the first St. Peter’s
or St. John’s until 1180. But the whole history of the
Lateran Palace, from the time of Constantine and
Fausta until that late age, is wrapped in obscurity.

^ Cardinal A. Mai, Script. x. p. xii. These Hebrew references

point to the thirteenth century or later. The tales about Titus’ Arch and
the candlestick spring from some similar source.

CHAPTEE III.

GLIMPSES OF MEDIEVAL ROME AND ITALY,

It is possible from extant sources, which have not been
hopelessly garbled in the Church interest, to ^ome from
obtain glimpses of the Eternal City during
the Middle Ages, and to satisfy ourselves that
its charm ever was for the traveller as it is now, in
those monuments of a genuine and glorious antiquity,
which acted like a magnet upon the civilised world, as
in the days of Seneca.

We may in fancy visit Home in the company of the
Emperor Constantins, and his friend the The Fourth
Persian Prince Hormisdas, about the middle
of the fourth century (a.b. 356). The city was then

the home of empire and of all virtues.’’ The Forum
brought back recollections of primeval greatness. It
was densely crowded wdth the miracles of ait. The
nobility assembled in the Curia, and the Emperor
sojourned in the palace of the Csesars. The temple of
Tarpeian Jove was eminent in divine splendour. The
Pantheon was adorned with statues of princes and
consuls ; and among other things of beauty were the
Temple of the City, the Forum of Peace, the Theatre
of Pompey, the Odeum and the Stadium. Above all,
the Forum of Trajan filled the spectator with astonish-
ment, in the atrium of which stood the horse of that
emperor, so magnificently stabled. Hormisdas said that

6s JS

66

THE EISE OE CHEISTElsTDOM.

he was pleased (or displeased) to learn that even in
Rome men died.^

Let us now open our earliest guide-book, the Notitia
TheWoKjia UrUs. Tile city, we find, is divided into
vrbiB. foul'teen regions ; and nothing of the eccle-
siastical division into seven diaconates is known.
Several large basilicse meet the eye,^ but they are not
basilicse in the ecclesiastical sense of the word. They
are buildings devoted to commerce, and to the adminis
ti'ation of justice, as were all the antique basilic..
Some of them may be described as bazaars, each de-
voted to a particular merchandise, as their descriptions,
Floscularia, Argentaria, Vascular ia, show. We come
upon several temples devoted to the cult of Isis ^nd
Serapis, and upon multitudes of cedicula or open-;^ir
chapels, each furnished with its image and its lamji.
The city is still old lioman in its externals, in its cuss^
toms, in its religion. Such Oriental rites as it knows
are the ancient Egyptian. It has not been touched by
any form of Christianism, whether Jewish, Samarita.
Arabian, or Catholic. It has heard nothing of parq-
chiie, of bishops, nor of deacons. Pagani are known,
but not in any but the old sense of members of Pagi in
the city. And the local business, both civil and reli-
gious, is probably in the hands of the officers called
Vicomagistri.

We may inform the reader that our guide-book knovs
nothing of a Basilica of Sicininus, where the massacre
under Pope Damasus is said to have occurred abo.it
the year 367. And indeed, as we linger in the ci^,
and dwell on the scene it presents, the story vanishjs

^ Amniian, xvi. lo.

2 Thti Basilica Pauli was a monument of tlie iEniilian family. T 3 If;it
Ann. iii, 72,

GLIMPSES OF MEDLEY AL EOME AFTD ITALY. 67

from our thoughts as a crude and -wild anachronism.'
Nor is there any reason to believe that a cen- Fifth
turj’^ later the aspect of the city had undergone centuiy.
any substantial change. Letronne found, to his sur-
prise, that about 453, and later, the cult of Isis and
Serapis was flourishing in Egypt, with no hint of its
illicit character.^ Doubtless it continued also in Rome.
No monastery had been heard of, no atrium had been
converted into a chinch, no peristyle into cloisters,
exhedra into chapter-house, triclinium into refectory,
or bath into baptistery.

We have the Itinerary of Rutilius, an ex-prsefect of
the city, who fervidly describes its glories ; but though
there is an absurd interpolation in his poem, describ-
)ing monks as swarming in the Isle of Capraria, and
another about Jews,* he is not made to refer to either
Jews or monks in Rome. He is thoroughly old Roman
in thought and sentiment, like his contemporaries Clau-
dian and Macrobius, who was also a prefect. To such men
the view of Rome reflected in the De Civitate Dei was
as utterly unknown as they themselves are distant from
the time of the cloisters. We must leave their society
and pass over an interval of many ages, during which
^ remains wrapped in darkness and hidden from
our exact knowledge, before we arrive at the time when
men were actually sitting down in the cloisters that
might envelop the city in a dense mist of Papal fables.

^ See the valuable work of H. Jordan, Die Topogr, d, St. Bom im Alter-
thum, ii. 216 ; Zesterniaiin, De Dasilicis, p. 64 ; Mommsen, Abh. d. sacks.
OeselL d, Wissensck, ii. 601, dates theiVb^i^m before, and the Curiosum Urbis
Eomm after a.d. 357. Of. Graevius, Tkes.^^ iii. 300.

2 Mat^daux, &e., Paris, 1833, p. 63. Pachomius, destined to name a
saint, is here a prophet of Isis.

3 Vide 384, 446. These passages may be traced to Ambrose, Sexcemeron,
iii. 5, 23.

68

THE EISE OF CHRISTEXDOJI.

Let us take the step across a chasm of some seven
hundred years and more, from the time of
teenthCen- Justinian to the time following the first
Crusades, when the Roman Empire had
long been reduced to a name, and when Orientals were
swarming everywhere in the lands of the Mediterranean.
How have the long troubles and changes affected the
state of the city of the Csesars 1 Our new informants
are chiefly monks of the Order of St. Benedict, but
it is clear that Rome is still neither Orientalised nor
Catholicised. Never did she exert a greater charm
over men’s spirit than now, when the forms of the
Republic are still preserved, and her monuments recall
the times of hberty in contrast to Oriental despotism.

An Anonymus of Einsiedeln, who probably writes in
the thirteenth century, gives a dry list of monuments
and inscriptions in Rome, which is said to be the first
of its kind before the fifteenth century. Antique Rome
is the object of his interest. His references to themes
of Church legend, as to a palace of Pilate near St.
Maria Major, are dubious and indistinct. He says no-
thing of the Leonine city.^ Another Anonymus of the
Order relates the curious folk-tale of the seventy bronze
statues of all nations set up by the old Romans on the
Capitol. Each bore on its breast the name of a people,
and had a bell about its neck. Day and night the
priests kept watch over them. If a province rebelled, the
statue moved, the bell sounded, and the priests reported
the occurrence to the Emperor. The statues had been
carried to Byzantium and clothed in silk by Alexander,
son of the Emperor Basil. St. Peter had appeared to
him by night, saying in wrath, “ I am the Prince of the
Romans ! ” In the morning he was found to be dead.

1 Mabillon, Vet. Analecta. 364.

GLIIIPSES OF MEDLEYAL ROME AXD ITALY. 69

Another Anonymus, of Salzburg, of about the same
age, professes to give notices of churches built in the
eighth centurj', which are entirely baseless and impos-
sible.^ Mosque-building in Spain, and during the follow-
ing age in Sicily, is beginning. The Capitol remained
inviolate, the first miracle of the world." In the Pan-
theon, Mary had not supplanted Cybele so long as the
tale was current that the Prsefect Agrippa had jied-serai
built that temple after an apparition to him
of the mother of the gods. The Mediaeval guide-books
— the Graphia and the Mirdbilia — to golden Home,
mingle references to Noah, Japhet, Nimrod, with the
names of Janus, Saturn, and Jupiter in the genealogy
of Eome’s founders, after the fashion of the thirteenth
century. The confusion of Semitic ideas with old
Roman reminiscences, which is so distasteful in the
Gesta Rormnorum, now begins to set in.

Meantime the old divisions of the city remain un-
altered. Twelve civil regions are stiU counted ; there
is no sign of the ecclesiastical division into the seven
diaconates. On the Palatine stood the remains of the
palace of the Caesars, replete with memorials of ancient
art. The Septemzonium of Severus was called the
Templum Septem Solia Major. Apparently it came
into the possession of the Benedictine cloister of San
Gregorio, in the thirteenth century.® If the Benedic-
tines occupied tlie cloister of Ara Cceh before the

1 Notit. JEJccles, U. R.^ in 0 pp. Alcnini, ed. Proben, ii. 597.

® Codd. Vatican., 1984, 2037, fol. 170 in Gregorovins, Gesch. d. Stadt,
iii- 535 -

^ The charters, as with many of the cloisters, begin with the eighth
century (754), and reach to 1559. But the editors complain of the
“ caliginous tenth century” and the absence of material. Mittarelli and
Cortadoni, Annal, CamaldL OrdL S* Bmedicti, I75S~i773j I. App. 41, p. 96,
anno 975.

70

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

Franciscans, their settlement cannot be dated before
the closing decades of the twelfth century, or the
opening of the thirteenth. It is needless to add that
the altar which links them with the time of Augustus
has never been, and never will be, discovered. A
transition from old to Mediaeval Rome is curiously
marked in the name of St. Bacchus, patron of the
church on the site of the Temple of Concord, where
Cicero’s eloquence had been heard ; also of St. Achilles
and St. Hermes. To about the same epoch belongs
the Benedictine settlement near the Circus Maximus.
There was a dispute between them and the priests of
St. Eustachius about the little churches of St. Maria,
St. Benedict, and St. Salvator.

A web of retrospective fiction connects this saint with
the Emperor Trajan and his Mend Placidus.
of St. The latter, after a miraculous conversion,

Eustachius. ]^g jj^ame to Eustachius, and finally

suflfered martyrdom, with miraculous consequences.
His name also figures in a poetic genealogy — character-
istic of the revival of holy Romanism — by which the
Frangipani and other noble houses are traced up to
a Placidus, scholar of St. Benedict himself. As we
ascend this hne, we come to the Octavian family, and
rest at last upon the name of Octavius Mamihus, who
fell in the battle of Lake Regillus !

In like manner the Benedictines strove to connect
their Gregory I. with the Anician gens of old Rome.
The same facts are impressed upon us everywhere in
perusing the meagre notices of the guide-books or the
graceful festoons of Church romance by which their
baldness is decorated. In the thirteenth century the
servants of the Christian Empire are striving, alike in
stone and in literary structure, to found the new system

GLIMPSES OF MEDIEVAL ROME AND ITALY. 71

upon the old foundations and the glorious memories
of the Caesars. Not otherwise could the Bishop of
the Eternal City have grasped the reins of power than
by conciliating the affections and dreams of the peoples
of the West, who, recovering from the long terror of
the Orientals, never looked hack with more joy and
pride upon the divine Eoman past than when they saw
the last of the Saracens disappear from the Campagna.
The Papal militia of monks seized the moment when
Rome lifted her head again and breathed freely, to pro-
claim that their system had been founded by an incar-
nation at the very beginning of the old Empire.

Not earlier than the closing years of the twelfth cen-
tury, the canon Petrus Mallius is writing a pg^er's
fable concerning the Basilica of St. Peter’s,
going back to Constantine and the donation, and
dwelling, of course, with fondness upon Charlemagne
and his assumed donation of temporalities. The object
of this ecclesiastic is, as usual, to make good the rights
of his church by a string of notices of such matters.
It is only from the fifteenth century that the literature
of St. Peter’s acquires a formidable bulk. A canon of
the Lateran Church, John Deacon, supplies contem-
poraneously his story of that basilica.^ Not without
interest to us Englishmen is the fact that about the
same epoch the Abbot of Rievaulx is writing of Edward
the Confessor and the Abbey Church of St. Peter’s at
Westminster.

This account of the rise of church architecture should
remind us that a correct historic view of the rise of
Christianity itself cafnnot .be secured until we .dmw a
iiUe betweeh tire ;fiotioU,a and, the frets of tibe g^t
Benedictine order ; 'add this , line Ceh only d«iwn
■■ iy: 614,

72

THE KISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

at tlie time they began their literature. That literature
is founded upon the Arabian and Jewish literature,
and it is hardly conceivable that they should have been
acquainted with the legends of the Koran or of A1
Tabari, much less of the Old Testament, until the
thirteenth century. Here one line may be roughly
drawn. Again, by the end of the twelfth century an
effort in church-building may have been beginning, one
of the results of the stimulus supplied by the Crusades.
The Norman architecture, in its dependence on the
architecture of Islam, bears witness in the most indis-
putable manner to the priority of Islam. If, as Mr.
Owen Jones has remarked, the Gothic architecture
reflects the Bible, as the Alhambra the Koran, it is
but to admit that the Koran is the earlier form of the
book.

The oldest Mediseval Schola of strangers in Home
appears to be that of the Jews in the Traste-
vere. Its history is quite dark until about
Sohoiaof middle of the twelfth century. I shall

have subsequently to point out that all those
strange notices which run through the Koman literature
from Cicero concerning the Jvdoei and their great influ-
ence in Borne form part of the system of monkish in-
terpolation. Such Jews are purely imaginary, entirely
unknown to their own literary records. The dates in
those records are very uncertain, and it is doubtful
whether at the time of the first Crusade many J ews were
to be found in Borne. But for the twelfth century we
find a convergence of various lines of evidence. There
is the curious notice of B. Benjamin of Tudela, which
describes Bahbins as forming part of the suite of the
Pope, the head of the “Edomites.” There are the
notices of the Jewish Leoni family, who give an occu-

GLIMPSES OF MEDLEVAL EOME AXD ITALY.

73

pant to the chair of St. Peter. Finally, it is the Bene-
dictine records which fii’st mention the Schola or Syna-
gogue of the Jews^ in that age.

The ritual book called the “Graphia of Golden
Eome” describes the Emperor — probably one of the
Ottos is intended — ascending the Capitol amidst faust
acclamations in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin tongues.
This scene is, however, probably artistic rather than
mechanically photographic. Great liberties have been
taken with the names of the Ottos, as of earher em-
perors, in monastic fiction. There was also a Schola of
Greeks in Eome. But even the Book of the Popes
does not mention either Schola in the time of Charle-
magne.

That Pontifical book does, however, refer to the time
of Karl the Scholse of Franks, of Frisians, of Saxons,
and of Lombards. That is to say, the first hint of
these guilds is to be found in the writer who pens the
notice of Pope Leo III. For the sake of clearness, it
may be well again to remind the reader of the epoch
of Innocent III., with whom the continuous registers
of the Popes begin. We shall hereafter show it to be
probable that the Book of the Popes, beginning with
St. Peter, was not commenced until some time in the
thirteenth century. The biographer of Leo III. is
another of those proleptic writers who refer the be-
ginning of rising institutions into earlier ages.

The history of the guild of Anglo-Saxons must be
of peculiar interest to us Englishmen. Its
origin has been referred to King Ina, who is
said to have arrived in Eome in the year 727 ; to have
founded a school of Catholic instruction for the princes
and clergy of England ; also to have built a church for
1 Ordo Romaiiv^ xii, in Mabillon, Mm. Itat it 195,

74

THE EISE OF CIIEISTEEHOIH.

English pilgrims, where they might he buried should
they decease from life in Home. Eurther, that his
foundations might be maintained, Tna is said to have
ordained tlie Jiomcscot, or donation from each house in
Wesse.K of the denarius to St. Ecter. The institute is
said to have been strengthened by Ofla of hfercia, who
arri\'cal in Home in 794 to atone for blood-guilt.

A steady attention to the nature of our sources for
English history must dispel tlit'se interested fables.
Neither the work ascribed to (Hildas nor the works
ascribed to the Venerable Bode could possibly have
been written before the Norman conquest. These
writoTvS are acquainted with the Biblical writings, and
the Biblical writings could not hiive la'cn known until
th(j Habbins had made themselves felt in Spain, South
Italy, Eroveuce, Normandy, and Emgland. There was
not a Jew in this island until the coming of the Nor-
mans ; not a Habbin known until H. Ben Ezra in
London in the twelfth century. The Abbots, with
tlu'ir spiritual battalions, ever followed in the wake of
the Habbins,

T’he root of the legend of the Anglo-Saxons is to be
found in the ambitions of the Order of St. Benedict.
It is writers in that service, nsAVilliam of Malmesbury,
and his correspondents and contemporaries through all
the West, who d(;light in converting at pleasure, by a
mere stroke of the pen, nido princes, of whom they
knew nought but the mere names, into ecclesiastics
and repentant pilgrims to Komo.^ It is a writer of the
same confederacy who, to impart false notoriety to pil-
grimage, slanders the character of our countrywomen,
hy pretending that there was scarce a town in Lom-

‘ ( 3 f. Jfiiliillon, Act. SS. 0 . S. B., iii. 4^15 ; AHa SR, Bolland,, February,
vol. i, p. 913.

GLIMPSES OE MEDIEVAL EOME AND ITALY.

75

bardy, France, or Gaul which was not disgraced by the
presence of some English lady who found in pilgrimage
a pretext for loose living.'

But from Matthew of Westminster we learn that the
xenodochium or hospice connected with the aforesaid
church of Ina was founded about 1204, the date of
the institution of the Order of San Spirito. Here then
we appear to touch the root and springing-point of the
fables about Ina. It was necessary to dignify the hos-
pice and the Order with a semblance of high antiquity.
We may conclude that the Anglo-Saxons were known
in Kome not long before the time of Innocent III.

Similarly, it was in the thirteenth century that the
Guild Churchmen of the Frisians conceived j. . .
the happy thought of ascribing their founda-
tion to Charlemagne and Leo IV.^ The Guild Church
of the Franks is named in a BuU of Leo IX., j-ranka.
dated 1053. The document is equally doubtful
with other deeds ascribed to this Pope. That of the
Lombards is uncertainly alluded to in the Book of
the Popes.

When we carry this dubious question into the light
of the general facts concerning church-building, it will
appear a safe conclusion that none of these guilds were
known until the latter decades of the twelfth century,
the period of the jfirst Church of St. Peter’s in the Vati-
can, where these guilds were settled. At some time
as yet undetermined, the quarter of the Vatican came
to be called the Leonine City. The legend The leonine
in the Book of the Popes relates that it was
founded about the middle of the ninth century, after
Kome had been invaded by the Saracens. The criti-

1 S. Bonifacii, B'p, GutJiberto Archwp,

2 This Pope was half a century later than Charlemagne in the tradition.

76

THE RISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

cism on this story is that the Arab and Greek writers
say nothing about any such violation of Kome by the
Hagarenes. Nor is the rhetorical life of Pope Leo IV.
of such a quality as to invite our credence in the event.
The fortification of the Vatican probably began from
the Norman time.

Perhaps these particulars will suffice to show in what
ignorance we are as to the actual state of Kome from
the time of the rise of Islam. Such knowledge as we
may glean, however, from the Mediceval guide-books
enables us to call up the image of that antique and
august city of the Csesars, which still kindled emotions
of wonder and delight in strangers alike from the East
and the West. There is no reason to suppose that its
monuments had suffered much, unless from its own
turbulent nobles and riotous mobs. Temples were
beginning to be converted into churches, and the city
to assume a partly Mediaeval appearance not earlier
than that century to which these inquiries have com-
pelled us again and again to return.

If we inquire into the state of the Campagna, the
earliest territory of that league of nobles and priests
who formed the nucleus of the Church, our sources are
always retrospective and fabulous. The monk never
describes — perhaps dares not describe — what is pass-
ing around him in any direct manner. His stories of
distant times may often be understood as allegorical
of events within his experience. They offer, in this
sense, astounding revelations of violence and of depra-
vity past shame, in the lives of the Abbots and the
devoted band of slaves whom they commanded. They
hint the rise, under false pretences, of a kingdom
entirely of this world. But it is impossible to extract
from ah. the monastic chronicles together any clear

GLIMPSES OF MEDIEVAL POME AND ITALY. 77

account of th.e state of the Church at the time when
Dante was a boy and beginning to grope about in a
world not yet realised.

Let us transfer our attention to a spot which has
been called the Sinai of the New Dispensa- ^
tion, and which had more to do with the rise of Monte
of Christendom than Lome itself. We refer
to the great Benedictine cloister of Monte Cassino in
Campania, where the “ Abbat of abbats ” reigned.

Every such cloister has, by the necessity of the
theories of the Order, a suitable legend of Legends of
origin. The traditional date of the dedica-
tion of the church is October i, 107 1. From that
epoch we look back upon a variety of fanciful vicissi-
tudes experienced by the brethren of the Order. They
talk of destructions by the Saracens and of restorations
in previous ages. They say they were at Capua and
Teano, where in 889 the autograph of the Benedictine
rules had been burned. Monte Cassino had suffered
destruction some five years before. From that time a
new flight of retrospection begins, and they strain their
gaze athwart 360 long years, until they rest it upon
the figure of St. Benedict himself. In 529 the old
philosophers are supposed to vanish with more than
dramatic suddenness off the stage of spiritual activity,
to make room for the new philosophers, of whom the
corypheeus is that saint.

And who was St. Benedict? Like Gregory, he is
traced up to an old Koman gens. Through their
spiritual telescope the good monks espy him in that far
distant time busily breaking down a temple of ApoUo
at the spot now called Monte Cassino, that he may
erect there a monastery. A daemon, perhaps the spirit
of Apollo himself, sits on a column, and would hinder

78

THE EISE OF CHKISTEHDOM.

the work. Whence had the Saint come thither ? From
Castrum Sublacum or Subiaco, on the Anio, where he
had erected twelve small cloisters, and, cheered by the
society of the pious St. Scholastica, had composed the
rules of the Order. Roman senators, an Equitius and
a Tertullus, had sent their sons to him, and the saint
had trained them for apostles to Gaul or to Sicily.
The jealousy of the neighbouring priests had been
aroused. Seven beautiful girls had arrived to tempt
his young disciples to break their vows. The saint
himself, who had already armed himself against femi-
nine blandishments by rolling naked among thorns and
nettles, quitted Subiaco, and came in the society of
three ravens, guided by angels, to Monte Cassino.

Such particulars we derive from the Dialogues of
Gregonj the Great, a Benedictine work perhaps of the
tliirteccnth century, to which age the roll of the illus-
trious literates of Monte Cassino belongs. They occur-
red to Benedictine invention at the time when Sicily
was becoming their Paradise, and when they were
daring enough to assert that the aforesaid Tertullus
endowed St. Benedict with Messina and Palermo, and
with 7000 slaves.^ This was the time of the Normans.

Father Montfaucon has produced a MS., supposed of
the eleventh century, from Monte Cassino, which gives
figures of St. Benedict and of the old costume of the
Ordcr.^ It may indeed date from the next century,
but it is certain that little or nothing had been done
in literature on Monte Cassino until there was talk
of Abbot Desiderius, dated 1087. The history of this
abbey has been attempted by Father Tosti, of course
within ecclesiastical lines. But should a thoroughly
critical examination of its archives be made, it would
^ Pirro, ^icilicK, Hacra^ 1155. ® Biojr, Ital, 323.

GLIMPSES OE MEDIEVAL HOME AND ITALY.

79

throw a flood of light upon the origin of the Church
itself. Here we content ourselves with a few further
observations.

Subiaco, as parent of Monte Cassino, should yield
us some earlier information about the Bene- ^
dictines. We find here in the Sagro Speco
frescoes of the thirteenth century, and no hint of a
high architectural antiquity. In the annals of the
Order we find tales and tales. The cloister was
destroyed by the Lango bards in 6oi, and the monks
fled to S. Erasmo on Monte Cceho. Subiaco is deserted
till a restoration by John VII. (706). A second destruc-
tion by the Saracens occurs in 840.^ It is restored by
Abbot Peter the First, and falls to the Saracens again
in 936.

It is obvious that here again proleptic fiction has
been busily at work. And we would insist again upon
the point of criticism so much neglected by our prede-
cessors, that monasteries could not have been built till
the monks knew what they were going to do in them,
and that they had practically little to do until they
had the Jewish writings in some shape in their hands.
It is impossible to date either of the cloisters earlier
than the time of the Crusades.

And if so, noted writers who hail from Monte Cassino
must have persistently antedated their productions.
Thus John the Deacon is referred to about the year
882. Even if he had lived at that epoch, what could
he have known of Gregory the First, whose life he
pretends to write ; who, with the aid of the Archangel

1 MabiUon, Annal. Bened., xix. 23, and Gregorovius, iii 374, who giv&s
the references to Papal Bulls and to the Chartary of Subiaco, but adds
that the cloister lias not a history, and that Jannuccelli’s Memoirs, 1856,
have no scientific value.

8o

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

Michael, secures the retirement of the Langobards from
the city in the sixth century ; who, by the exhibition of
the coat of the Evangelist John before the door of the
Lateran, produces fair weather or rain? Neither St.
Michael nor St. John could have been heard of in that
age. In like manner, Paul the Deacon takes upon him-
self to paint another Gregory, the defender of images.
He is another Monte Cassino monk. A third tells a
story, already disputed, of the invasion of Eome by
Saracens in 846. It is men of the same confederacy
who paint the Admiral Popes Leo. IV. and John
VIII., and who see their prototypes in Peter and
Paul delivered from the waters and from shipwreck.
Others ascend higher up the stream of time and
concoct fables about Constantine. In short, Monte
Cassino was a great factory of fables, which have too
long passed for fact, but which were not heard of in
the world until the epoch of the Crusades.

The modern pilgrim to Monte Cassino will recall the
adjacent towns of Roccasecca and Aquino, associated
with the name of St. Thomas, the Angelic Doctor,
another of the luminaries connected with the famous
cloister, and the author of an attack upon human
reason, from which, perhaps, human reason has not
yet fuUy recovered. Thomas Aquinas stands yet in
the dawn of the Catholic Church.

Let us revert to another Benedictine cloister, that of

Farfa. chronicle, as usual, relates strange

stories of origins.^ We are told that it was
besieged seven years (890-897) by the Saracens, then
deserted. The Saracens spared it, but Christian robbers
set it in flames. A splendid picture of its early glories
is drawn. The Abbot manned a ship, which entered
1 Mon. Germ., xi. 532 ; Cliron. Farf., p. 387 ; Vatican. Begest. Farf., 285.

GLIMPSES OF MEDIAEVAL ROME AJH) ITALY. 8i

the royal harbours toll-free. Charters can of course be
produced granting the abbey immunities from the time
of Charlemagne, and confirmatory Bulls of the Popes.
At the time when a Benedictine, Leo VII. (933), is
said to have sat in the chair of Peter, and the rule
of the beautiful Marozia was on the wane, Parfa was
rebuilt by the Abbot Eaffred, who was murdered by his
monks in 936. Campo, one of the murderers, obtains
from King Hugo, husband of Marozia, the abbacy, and
lives along with Hildebrand, the other murderer, in
riotous pleasure. Both have concubines. Campo has
seven daughters and three sons. Hildebrand estab-
lishes himself at Permo, During a carouse with his
mistress and children, the castle is set on fiLre, and
coimtless treasures are consumed. The monks copy
these examples, live in villas, and come to Parfa on
Sundays to laugh and gossip. Then Alberich, Prince
and Senator of the Eomans, marches against Parfa "with
a military force, drives out Campo, and sets up the
rule of Cluny in 947 ; but in five years the new Abbot
is murdered, and the old wickedness is resumed. If
these stories were written down two or more centuries
after the date of the alleged events, what is their worth ?
If there is anything of reminiscence in such details, it
would seem to point to the fact that the precursors of
popes and abbots were petty princes, united in some
mere military league against the Saracens.

Turning to Cluny, the offspring of Monte Cassino,
the new rule is said to date from 910. But
the archives of Cluny from that century,
recently edited by M. Bruel,^ are full of noistakes,
which cast deep doubt upon the genuineness of the
whole. They have been compiled, as in other cases,

> Pari^ iS8a

83 THE RISE OF CIIRIBTENDOIM.

on a system of fraud. Cluny could not have been
founded in the tenth century.

By n’liatev('v road we follow the tracks of the Bene-
dict ines, wliereA'or wo dip into their annals, the same
nu'thod of making history is always to ho detected,
'I’lius the monastery near Sqnillace places Cassiodorms,
an ex-prefcet and monk, in the si.xth century. The
w'ritiiiga ascribed to him show the im])ossibility of this
(kite, d’hoy would counect the Homan Empire rvith the
Old Testament. In like manner Columba and Colum-
baniis, the hero-monks of Scotia, arc figures of mythic
nd rospoc.tion to the monks of the cloisters of Burgundy,
Switzerland, and Lombardy, under the Irish rule in
the thirteenth century. The Life of Columba is said to
have b(Hm written by Adamnan, Abbot of Iona, in Iho
sevenili century. But the oldest manuscript comes from
tlic Bene(li(!tine convent of Ileichenau on the Ijako of
(hnstiinct^. Ihe Idfc of Colnmbanns is ascribed to
.Tonas, a monk of Bobbin in Lombardy. Tho whole
histmy of Western monachism, it cannot be too empha-
tically insisted on, begins with the Bonedictino Order.
And if the evidence forbids us to assume the rise of
tho Order earlier than tho twelfth century, the fables
roiorrtsl to fall for want of support.

Through all the cloud of fable, then, rvo win to a
point of some dearness when we sec that tho head-
([uarters of tho Busilians were once at Grotta I^’errata,
those of tho Benedictines at Monte Cassino, and that
a literary confederacy existed between them which re-
sulted in the production of the most important works of
dogmatic and polemical Church literature. Moham-
medans were all around them. Jews were also nume-
rous. 'I’hey had opportunities of acquainting themselves
with their traditions. Mosques had long been stand-

GLIMPSES OF MEDIJ5VAL EOME AND ITALY. 83

ing, synagogues were being built. The theory which
explains the origin of the world from Adam, common
to the two Oriental sects, had been firmly established
in the seats of old philosophic culture, though the
traditions of philosophy were not utterly extinct.

Under such conditions the CathoHc Church arose,
and prepared to struggle for the possession of Eome.
But perhaps her true Holy Land is Apulia, Calabria, and
Sicily. Surely no student can thoughtfully traverse
those regions, observing the remains of the old Greek
and Eoman, of Byzantine, of Arab, of Norman culture,
without feeling that he is on ground far more interest-
ing to our Western humanity than Cappadocia, Syria,
or Egypt. We are there in the centre of our world.
We begin to understand how the Greeks, stretching
out their hands to the East, when the warriors of the
Cross had led the way, and the Latins grasping the
West, succeeded in founding that great institution of
which every Christian sect that has arisen down to
our own times is a branch or a scion.

One of the most interesting clues in reference to this
subject is furnished by the cult of the Holy -rheOuitof
Archangel Michael, guardian spirit of so many
mountains. Let us take up our station for a moment
at Monte St. Angelo, near Manfredonia and Monte
Gargano. Here is a chapel in a grotto, an object of
pilgrimage at some epoch in the Crusading time. The
great festival is celebrated on the 8th of May, and com-
memorates the ecclesiastical dream of the apparition
of the Archangel to St. Lawrence, Archbishop of old
Sipontum, hard by, in the year 491. In the Service
Book, the Tntroit is taken from the 102nd Psalm ; the
Lesson is Apoc. i. 1—5, which speaks of the “ seven
spirits which are before the throne;” the Gospel is

84

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

Matt, xviii. i-io, on the doctrine of guardian angels.
Other parts of the service recognise the intercession
of angels, and of the blessed Archangel in particular ;
but probably the oldest part of the service is the
invocation : —

Alleluia, alleluia. Sa/mcte Michaele Arcliangele, de-
fende nos in proelio ; ut non perea/mus in tremendo
judicio. Alleluia.

The same mass is sung on Michaelmas Day, Sep-
tember 29, or the Feast of the Dedication of the Church
of St. Michael.

When did that prayer of warriors to the archangelic
warrior first resound on the slopes of Monte Gargano ?

Jews were numerous all along that coast to Bari,
, „ . , . there can be little doubt, from the latter half

A IlaWnn ^

NP«ak8 of the of the twelfth century. But had they during
that age already listened to the mysterious
n’vri ami oracles of the Book of Daniel, where Michael
Otaanto. appears as the guardian angel of the people
in a time of great trouble? Babbindom, whether in
Spain or Italy, was in its inception until the epoch of
Maimonides, and the synagogue services were as yet
incomplete. The great time of trouble for Judaism was
the time of the first Crusade. According to these indica-
tions, it would be later than that time that the church was
dedicated ; but Michael, mentioned along with Gabriel
in the Koran, earlier belonged to the Mohammedans.

Another point of great interest is the cult of St.
St. Hichoias Nicholas, the successor of Neptune and pro-
of Bari. tector of Bari. The church legend dates the
reception of his bones from Lycia in the year 1087;
but it is not likely that the tale of merchants from Bari
going to fetch these relics could have found acceptance
uijtil the Crusading excitement had long set in. The

GLIMPSES OF MEDIiEVAL EOME AND ITALY. 85

Saracenic crypt is said to have been consecrated in
1089, and the church to have been finished in 1139.
It should be remembered that the Saracens had been
there until 1002.

There can be no doubt that Bari is one of the oldest
seats of Christianity in the world, and one of the earliest
centres of propagation to the East. The great annual
festival, to which multitudes of mariners and of pea-
sants from the east slope of the Apennines throng, is
also one of the most important links of the past. It
has been said that it is the only occasion in Italy in
which the religion of Jesus Christ is seen in the hands
of the people as distinct from the priesthood. And if so,
the mode of devotion of the pilgrims — their movement
round the aisles with the forehead pressed to the pave-
ment — seems to carry us back to Moslem influence,
and strikingly to bear witness to the true origin of the
church in these regions. And since St. Mark is greatly
honoured at Bari, memory takes flight to the Duomo at
Venice, with its mosque-like cupola. Since what time
has it borne the name of St. Mark, and what was the
first worship celebrated there! If this Duomo was
finished so early as 1071, it could hardly have been
Christian and Catholic.

It is probable that all along the coast the Moham-
medans were strong, and the religionists connected with
them, the Manichees, throughout the twelfth century.
At Lucera, near Monte Gargano, there was a colony of
them from Sicily, under Frederic 11 ., in 1223, enjoying
religious freedom, which was not put down till 1300.

To revert to the western coast. At Salerno the
Cathedral of St Matthew is dated 1084, and saiemo: st.
ascribed to Robert Guiscard. The' relics of
the saint are said to have been brought from the East in

86

THE EISE OF CHEISTEHDOM.

930. Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII., is said to have
died here in 1085. Could his genuine tomb be shown,
it would be a great historic landmark ; but the actual
tomb dates firom the sixteenth century. The idea of
a Pope in banishment only a quarter of a century after
occupying a proud position, said to have been won by
Leo IX., arouses reflection, and suggests inquiry into
the whole narrative concerning St. Gregory VII. The
great medical school of Salerno dates firom about the
middle of the twelfth century, the flourishing time of
the Jewish physicians or of the Jewish Rabbins.

At Amalfi the Cathedral of St. Andrew is said to
date from the eleventh century ; yet the translation of
the relics from Constantinople is referred to the thir-
teenth century. In the vicinity the tokens of the influ-
ence of the Mohammedans are strong. The Saracenic
Palazzo Eufalo, at EuveUo, is ascribed to the twelfth
century.

At Messina no spot could be more suitable on which
„ . to deliver a lecture on the history of the
Church than the old Norman Church of St.
Annunziata dei Catalan!, built, it is said, pn the site
of a temple, then of a mosque. There are perhaps
of the faithful who still beheve that the epistle sent
by the Virgin through the hands of St. Paul to the
inhabitants is a genuine document. It was a forgery of
Lascaris’ in the fifteenth century. Nowhere is it more
apparent than in the light of the monuments of Sicily
tW Maria, Mother of God, is the deified Mariam of the
Arabians, even as Isa, son of Mariam, is deified in Jesus.

We may close this excursion by a visit to the beauti-
,, , fill cloisters of the Benedictines at Monreale.

Monreale. ^

One of the columns bears the date 1228. This
splendid monument of the transition fi:om the Saracen

GLIMPSES OF MEDIiEVAL EOME AFTD ITALY. 87

to the Norman dominion carries our thought to the
still greater splendours of the Alhambra, and to the
spiritual conquests of the Benedictines in Spain. The
like history is repeated yonder to that we have traced
in Italy. At Monreale we are not far from the Bene-
dictine cloister San Martino, the founding of which is
falsely ascribed to Gregory the Great. There we may
meditate, if we please, on the forgeries of the Abbate
Vella, and recover from many a long illusion in respect
to the documents for the antiquity of the Benedictine
Order.

And now let me invite the reader to take a brief
review of the legends of the Popes during Retrospect
the important period at which we have been
glancing. Let our standpoint be in time the i“o“ntin.
session of Innocent III. (1195-1214), and in place the
old Tusculum, now Frascati. Down to 1 19 1 old Tuscu-
lum existed, a strong place for a residence of the visible
heads of the Church. According to Church tradition,
no less than five, and perhaps more. Counts of Tus-
culum had become Popes.^ The particulars given in
the Book of the Popes, often fabulous in form, reveal
the substantial fact that at some time after the first
Crusade the monk was beginning to replace the soldier
in the direction of the great league of the Cross.

Innocent III. himself is said to have been a Cam-
panian of the lowest rank, to have studied at Paris,
and to have been a very learned man. To him is
ascribed a work on the Office of the Mass, and a book
on ancient Decretals, which he commanded to be ob-
served. In all probability the notorious false Decretals
were composed after his time. He is also said to have
built, at his own expense, the Hospital of the Holy
^ See Gregorovius, Qes<^, d, Siadt iZpm, iv, 70.

88

THE EISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

Spirit in the Leonine City, and to have given silver to
all the churches in the city for the making of chalices.
He also took the Order of St. Augustine under his pro-
tection. He is said to have died at Perugia, whither
he had gone to put an end to the strife between the
Genoese and the Pisans.

His predecessor, Celestine III. (1188-95), is said
to have crowned the Emperor Henry, and to have
given him a nun, Constantia, in marriage. He made
every effort to recover Jerusalem. Though pressed by
many war expenses, he built splendid houses at St.
Peter and St. John Lateran. An excellent Pontiff,
he was greatly lamented.

Before him Clement III. (1186-88) had declared
war against the Saracens. He built the cloister of St.
Laurence outside the walls, and “ restored ” the crum-
bling Lateran Palace. He waged war with Tancred,
tyrant of Apulia.

Gregory VIII. (1186), in his ardour against the bar-
barians, went, on his accession, to Pisa, reconciled the
Genoese with the Pisans, and directed the two peoples
to raise the largest fleet they could, and to hasten to
Asia for the protection of the Christian rehgion.

Similarly, Urban III. (1185) had gone to Venice to
raise a fleet for the defence of Jerusalem. When he
heard of its fall, he died of grief on the way at Perrara.

Of Lucius III. (1181) the signiflcant fact is related
that he strove to abolish the name of Consuls from the
Eoman Eepublic, and was cast out of the city. The
eyes of his followers were put out. He went to Verona,
condemned the license of the Eomans at a great coun-
cil, and exhorted the Christian princes to succour their
friends in Asia and Syria, At this late date, then, the
Romans still clung to the old form of the Empire, and

GLIMPSES OP MEDIEVAL EOME AND ITALY. 89

resisted with success the attempt to impose the rule of
the Vicar of Christ upon them.

At the election of his predecessor, Alexander III.
(i 1 61-81), a great sedition arose in the city. There
was a rival pope, Victor, the nominee of three profane
Cardinals, favoured by the Emperor Frederic. Twice
Alexander fled, first to Claremont, then to Venice, to
the monastery of Carita. He is discovered after three
months, and led amidst crosses and solemn ceremonies
to St. Mark’s. Sitting before the altar, he blesses the
Prince, the Senate, and all the people. In the end,
he makes peace with Frederic, who comes to Venice,
and agrees to restore Rome to the Pontifi". Then there
is presented to our view one of those brilliant symbolic
scenes in which the pencil of Church artists delight.

Pope Alexander stands before the doors of St.
Mark’s in the presence of all the people. He bids the
Emperor prostrate himself and beg for pardon. The
Pope puts his foot on the neck of the Emperor, saying,
“It is written. On the serpent and adder thou shalt
walk, and tread down the lion and dragon.” Frederic
replies, “Not thee, but Peter, whose successor thou
art, do I obey,” “Both me and Peter,” the Pontiff
answers.

He subsequently bestows the privileges of the white
fwmle, and the leaden seal on the Doge and Senate,
also the ornament of the umbrella on the Doge, and a
seat in the theatre. Before this there had been only
two seats in the Papal theatre, the right for the Pontiff,
the left for the Csesar. Also on the Feast of the Ascen-
sion he grants plenary and perpetual indulgence in St.
Mark’s. He dies in Rome.

And yet this proud Pope is one of poe who contend
in this period for the Chair of St. Peter, and who nearly

90

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

succeeded in overthrowing the Koman Church. The
tale is a violent affront to common sense in many
details.

The Englishman, Adrian IV. (1157-61), is the
converter of Norway to the faith. He too is said to
have struggled with the Romans, endeavouring to
abolish the Consuls. The people heat a Cardinal;
the Pope pursues them with curses and interdiction,
which weapons he also turns against William of Naples
and Sicily. This Pope is a man of war, and fortifies
many castles near Volsinum, on the lake of St. Chris-
tina. He is the first Pope who dwells in that city. He
is unable to remain in Rome, owing to the evil conver-
sation of the Consuls, and dies at Agriganum.

The session of Anastasius IV. (1155) is illustrated
by his large charities to the poor during the great
famine and pest which raged in the world.

Eugenius III. (1147) is said to have contended with
the Romans, who honoured their five Senators. He
fled by night to Farfa, and was there consecrated.
Returning to the city, he has shortly to take flight,
pursued by arrows down the Tiber.^ He goes to Pisa,
then to France, signs Lewis with the cross, and stirs
up many against the Turks and Saracens. He returns
to Rome, but finally dies at Tibur.

Lucius II. (i 146) is Cardinal-priest of the Basilica of
the Holy Cross at Jerusalem, which he “ restored ” or
built at his own expense. He busied himself about
the expedition to Jerusalem.

, Of Celestine II. (1145) nothing is recorded. There
#as no sedition, owing to the prevalence of the.,
plague.

Innocent H. (1131) makes war on Roger, Duke of

^ The story seems reflected from that of Eugenius IV.

GLIMPSES OF MEDIEVAL HOME AND ITALY. 91

ipulia. He is taken captive with many Cardinals, but
Roger sends him back with great reverence to Eome.
There an anti*pope, Peter, has been elected, and all
is full of sedition. Innocent repairs to Pisa, then to
Genoa, and to Claremont, where he is magnificently
received by St. Bernard. Peter is there condemned.
The Emperor Lothair accompanies him to Eome with
a great army. The anti-pope has disappeared, but
the Eomans persist in being governed by Senators
in the ancient fashion, and Innocent lays down con-
stitutions for the defence of the clergy.

Passing Honorius II. (1126), we come to Calixtus
II. ( 1 1 20), a brother of the Count of Burgundy and a
relation of the kings of France, England, and Germany.
His name had been Guido. On his election, he
repaired to Beneventum, assembled the Duke of
Apulia, the Count of Campania, and other princes,
and bound them by oath to obedience to the Eoman
Pontiff. He subsequently takes care of the duchy of
Apulia and Calabria in the absence of Duke WiUiam
at Constantinople. At Eome he holds a council of
900 fathers, and a reinforcement of troops is decreed
for Asia; for Baldwin has been taken. He raises a
great fleet of Genoese, Venetians, and Pisans against
the enemy.

Gelasius II. (i 1 18) was educated in Monte Cassino
under Abbot Odorosius. His was a stormy career.
Cyntius, of the powerful house of Frangipani, seized the
Pontiff on his election, cast him to the ground, kicked
and pummelled him with his fists, then threw him
into chains. After his liberation, he is persecuted by
the Emperor Henry, and flees to Gaul. He takes
refuge in Cluny, and there, dies.

Paschalis II. (i 100), being a monk, is of course un-

92

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

■willingly made Pontiff. He has to struggle -with an
anti-pope, Gibert. He takes Castellana and Beneventum
by force of arms. He stirs up the Christian princes
to the Asiatic 'war. He is cast into prison by the
Emperor for refusing to con-firm certain heretic bishops.
He comes out after he has confirmed them, but on
Henry’s departure, revokes all his promises to him.

Urban II. {1086) had been kno-wn as Odo, Abbot of
Cluny. To him are ascribed a number of letters,
succo plensB, addressed to the Countess Matilda, whose
name has been associated with many church founda-
tions. At Claremont, where he persuaded a Council
to undertake an expedition against the Saracens, he
is said to have signed 300,000 men with the cross.
From this Council is also dated the decree for the
daily observance of the Hours of the Blessed Virgin,
and the celebration of her 0 £S,ce on the Sabbath-day.
On his return to Kome he is troubled by great
seditions under John Paganus, and remains two years
in the house of Peter Leoni, a very powerful citizen
and a Jew, whose descendant later became himself
Pope.

We come to Desiderius, Abbot of Monte Cassino,
or Victor IH. (1085). The date is uncertain. He is
said to have been poisoned at the instigation of the
Emperor, because he had been of Hildebrand’s party
against the anti-pope Gibert.

Hildebrand, or St. Gregory VII. (1073), lias been
made a chief object of idealising Church art. His per-
sonality is smothered by panegyric ; and all that can
be inferred from the traditions about him is that he
was symbolic of the beginning of an innovation in
Borne. We see him in Church representations cele-
brating mass on the birthnight of the Lord, He is

GLIMPSES OF MEDIEVAL EOME AND ITALY.

93

seized by Cyntius, son of the Prsefect, and shut up in
a strong tower. The Eomans liberate him next day,
destroy the house of Cyntius and put the family
to death. Cyntius flees to the Emperor in Germany.
Gregory puts the mark of anathema on the Emperor
and his party, including Gibert, Archbishop of Ravenna.
Then the Countess Matilda intervenes, and at Canosa
the Emperor is reconciled to the Church. But peace is
again broken, and Henry with Gibert, now made Pope
Clement, comes to Rome and besieges Gregory in the
Mole of Adrian. Finally, Gregory is freed by Robert,
Duke of Apulia, and goes with him to Salerno, where
he dies.

Gregory is represented as a great foe of simony, and
as the institutor of clerical celibacy and of Sabbath
fasts. But when we look to the fraudulent and late
Gratianic collection of canons, which is the source of
these representations, they are found to be untrust-
worthy. The ambitions of Monte Cassino and Cluny
colour other parts of the representation ; and when the
monkish colour is expunged, all that can be discerned
in this tedious tale of popes and anti-popes is the
struggle of factions, of nobles, now with one another,
now with the common Oriental enemy. The monks
had their reminiscences, but their theory forces them
to confuse their reminiscences by importing figures of
their own Order into scenes unsuitable to them. The
bare fact that the monks of Monte Cassino and of
Cluny were beginning to fight for world dominion
after the time of the first Crusade is aH that we can
find that is genuine.

When we ascend to the year 1004, we find the
statement that all the princes of Italy formed a league
to expel the Saracens from Sicily. When it is added

94

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

that William, son of Tancred, with the help of the
princes of Campania and Salerno, in a short space of
time (1004-1006) drove them all out of the island,
the statement is false ; and when it is said that this
was done at the Council of Pope Sergius IV., the
statement is pure fiction. We must correct these
statements by throwing ourselves into the positions
and feelings of the warriors who led the Crusade.
They were in league to expel the Orientals from the
Mediterranean and to attack them in the East. At
first they no doubt welcomed as allies the members of
the new spiritual confederacy, which sprung up as
a rival to the confederacies of the Mosque and the
Synagogue, and whose objects were the same with
their own. But when it was seen that the Abbots of
Monte Cassino and of Cluny, daily growing in wealth
and influence and command of force, were aiming to
set up a new Caliphate in the West, and to overthrow
the old Republic in favour of a new tyranny, no
wonder that the utmost jealousy was inflamed against
them, and that the persons of the Pope were exposed
to constant danger. But resistance to the pre-
tensions came too late. The martial manhood of
Europe was drawn off to the East. It was the great
opportunity for men of business. When the Crusaders
came straggling back, they found the Jews and the
monks in possession — the Jews absorbing gold and
making slaves, the monks grasping at land and build-
ing palaces ; womanhood and the family life deeply
depressed, the intellectual class employed in reducing
reason itself to slavery.

We have not yet recovered from the wounds inflicted
on humanity during that terrible age, the blame of
which falls not so much on the rank and file of the

GLIMPSES OF MEDLEVAL EOME AJTD ITALY. 95

great monkish, militia, as on the ambitious and un-
scrupulous prelates who directed their movements
from the cloisters.

The history of Catholic Christianity from its rise is,
in general, the history of Monte Cassino ; and it will
appear, on consideration of other branches of the evi-
dence, that it was impossible for the monks to have
sat down in the scriptorium of that monastery and to
have begun the system of Church fable until some
time in the thirteenth century.

Gazing at this notable Church centre, we may
gradually recover from that vertigo and giddiness
which the inexperienced perusal of the lives of the
Popes is apt to produce in the reader. We begin to
understand why, although Pope has followed Pope in
unbroken series for 800 years, nothing has really pro-
gressed, and the like scenes of violence are imagined
in the middle of the twelfth century that were ima-
gined in the middle of the fourth. At the earlier
epoch, a Vicar of Christ is portrayed leading a band
of Eoman gladiators and other ruifians to attack a
basilica, and to stain its floor with the blood of some
1 30 persons. For five hundred years a Vicar of Christ
is declared to be undisputed sovereign of the city ; yet
three hundred years later stiU the Vicars of Christ are
struggling with the Senate and the people, are suffer-
ing constant defeat, but have not yet usurped the old
authority of the prsefects. It must be repeated, that the
lives of the Popes are a phantasmagoria and an evil
dream. It is enough to read in the works set down to
the Papal contemporary of Eabbi Moses of Cairo the
treatise on the Mass and the Epistles to assure our-
selves that in his time the whole hierarchic and mystic
system of the Papacy is in its infancy.

CHAPTER IV.

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS TEACHING AMONG
THE ROMANS.

There is another kind of evidence in respect to
institutions of the old Roman Empire, perhaps of
even more importance than those to vrhich we have
just adverted. It is contained in the records of the
Roman philosophic schools, from which we collect
what was the best that men thought concerning the
problems of existence and the conduct of life. The
general feeling upon these matters presents a sharp
contrast to that instilled by the monks. Nothing
can, on the whole, be more antipathetic than the system
of the old philosophers to that of the new ; for the
Medisevalists delight in the pallium and in the desig-
nation of philosophers.

It is unnecessary to enter here into any disquisition
L. Annaeus relation of the Greek masters to their

Seneca. Roman disciples. The genius of the Romans
made practical and popular the teaching of the Greek
schoolmen. They instinctively selected what was
helpful towards building up the Roman spirit and the
Roman art of conduct. They had little relish for the
mere speculative or contemplative life, which carried
men out of active fellowship with the body of their
fellow-citizens. What is to be admired above all in
the Romans is not so much their external- works, their

96

EOMAN MOEALITY AND EELIGIOK

97

roads, their aqueducts, their public buildings, their
legions, their system of civil right, as that character
which is to be traced everywhere as the base and
foundation of all their works. The character of the
Eoman was the noblest of his traditions, and this
tradition the Boman teachers laboured to cherish and
hand down intact.

The teaching of the Koman Stoics is the noblest
that has ever been given to the world, and the best
text-book of their wisdom is the Epistles to Lucilius
ascribed to L. Annaeus Seneca of Cordova. We say
“ ascribed to Seneca,” because, in the uncertainty that
attends upon the authorship of much ancient litera-
ture, it is well not to think so much of the name of
the writer as of the intrinsic merit of his writings.
One is tempted to say that if Seneca, the minister of
Nero, was not a good man, then Seneca did not write
these Epistles ; and if Seneca did write these Epistles,
they are the monument of one of the loftiest and purest
spirits that has ever risen up to guide and instruct
mankind.

In the phrase which Tacitus applies to the teach-
ing of the Stoics, Sola hona quce honesta,
we have the summary of this popular teach-
ing. We find it expressed in the Epistles in the nega-
tive form. Nihil esse honum, nisi honestvm ^ — ^There
is no good apart from honesty. Whatsoever is honour-
able is good, and naught else can be good. The
Churchmen have in one place echoed the principle
in the ethical lessons of the service-books, although
they have lamentably failed to act upon it. Through
ages of darkness and dishonesty, the principle, being
founded on the nature of man, has never been wholly

1 Ep. Ixxi,

Q

98

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

forgotten ; it reappeared in the manly line of one of
our own poets, “An honest man’s the noblest work
of God.”

Honesty is the only form of right conduct. The
circle is the circle, no matter what the space enclosed ;
and the good is the good, no matter what space the
man fills in the eye of the world. It is implied that
you are a reasonable being, and that you should employ
your reason to conform yourself to the will of great
Nature, and control those hopes and those fears which
conflict with her laws. The wise and the virtuous life is
ever on one tenor ; it is exempt from change. It flows
fr’om one source, Nature, and her alone. It is implied
that there is a natural source of honesty and of good
in every heart.^ If this be denied, such teaching is
wanting in all leverage, and can effect nothing. But
it does not occur to the Stoic that there can be
infidels to that Nature who inspires us all, that virtue
which is a heritage from Nature.

Surely Virtue sends beforehand her light into aU

Virtue Is it not planted in the hearts of

vicious men to approve of better things?
None are shut out from virtue ; all are invited, whe-
ther they be freeborn, freedmen, or slaves, whether
they be kings or exiles. You cannot woo Virtue with
gold, you cannot deter her from the door of the poor.®
She will accept no sordid lover. If we take her to
our soul, we become stronger, loftier, ampler.* And
there is nothing really great, nothing worth oirr wonder
but the great soul. It dwarfs all else.®

^ Epp. Ixxvi., cxviii.

* Epp. xvii., eviii.

® De Bmef.y iii. i8, iv. i, 24.

* Ep. Ixxvi

* Epp. viii., xviii.

EOMAN MOEALITY AND EELIGION.

99

The soul is the trae seat of all that is sacred. It
clings to its origin beyond time, and, though
shut up in this dark and sad domicile, seeks,
as often as it may, the open air.^ It is a part of the
mind of God; into this mortal breast it has flowed
from above. We feel this when we meditate our
mortality, when we see that this body is nothing but
a hospice, that we must quit when we become trouble-
some to the host. Must it not be that we come firom
a loftier seat! Otherwise how should we judge these
our surroundings to be so low and narrow, and have
no fear of going forth 1 The soul remembers whence
she has come and whither she is going.®

Sanity lies in self-content and self-trust. The blessed
life is that which needs no addition to it horn
without. To be wishful, to be dependent on
benefits, is to be rmfinished.® You have only to will to
be good ; the soul will then feed itself, and grow of
itself, and exercise itself. We should wiU to be free,
— ^to snatch ourselves from this universal bondage to
fear which is the oppression of mankind. You must
firee yourself from the fear of death and then of
poverty.*

Health consists above aU in the exercise of the soul
in wisdom. Philosopha/ri est valere. Mere strength of
body is the strength of a madman. Let your first and
chief care be the health of the soul, and let the body
have the second place.® Keep it in bounds as far as
you can, and let the soul have laxity and room. The
sectary of wisdom cleaves indeed to his body, but the
best part of him is away, stretching thought into the
sublime. He is like a soldier enlisted; life is a

‘ Ep. xli. ® Ep. C3X ® Ep. Ixsx

^ Ep, Ixxii. ^ Epp. viiL, xv.

lOO

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

campaign; he is formed neither to love nor to hate
his life, but to endure his mortal lot with the know-
ledge of better things in store.^

True liberty is our goal, and to win it we must be
wisdom’s servants. That is the paradox :

Liberty, jg service — to no human lord, but to

great ideas, which deliver from lusts and fears.® How
great a reward awaits us if we will only break with
the clinging evils of our imagination, and cease to
believe ill of the gods.® The hurtful being is as weak
as the being that can be hurt. Absolute liberty is
when we fear neither men nor gods ; when we have
no base and no excessive desires ; when we have the
greatest authority over ourselves ; when we have become
our own man. We must feel ourselves too great and
born for greater things than to be bondmen to our
bodies.*

The view of social life and duty is very simple.
Nature is our great common mother ; we are
begotten of one cause, and for one end. She
implanted in us mutual love and made us sociable
beings. She laid down for us the principles of equity
and justice. By her law it is worse to hurt another
than to be injured ourselves. At her imperial behest
helping hands are ready for mutual succour. Let the
verse be ever, then, in our heart and on our lips :

“ Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.’’ ®

Briefly, we need but one formula of human duty. All
divinity and all humanity are included in the sentiment.
We are members of one great body.®

1 Ep. Ixv.

* Ep. Ixxv.

^ ® Ep. xcv.

® Ep. viii
* Ep. Ixv.

« Cf. Ep. xdu

EOMAIT MOEALITY AND EELIGIOX.

lOI

It is in accordance with such principles that theology
should be as broad as possible. We should

■L God

understand that all the names whereby men

have defined the unseen causes that operate or seem

to operate upon our life mean substantially one thing.

WThat do we mean by Nature 1 "VMiat do we mean
by God 1 ’■ "What but a divine reason inserted into
the whole world and into its parts? It is Nature who
begat us sound and free ; it is not she who has
reconciled us to vices. It is she who raised our
countenances to heaven.* God, then, or the gods, or
Nature, are expressions that we use for the intelligence
that pervades the world. Another term is Providence.
The gods did not beget us in a careless moment,
and Nature thought us out before she produced us.
A man is not a tumrdtuary and thoughtless piece of
work : he is Nature’s greatest boast.

The gods are under no external compulsion. Their
eternal will is their law, and they change not
from their purpose. They caxmot seem to
purpose aught against their will. Whatever they can-
not leave off, they have willed to continue. They never
repent of their first endeavour ; they may not descend
into the contrary.* The immortal gods alone have for
their portion virtue and the blessed life. We have
some shadow and likeness of that good. It is true
that we and they have reason in common, but in them
it is consummate — ^in us on the way to consummation.
The bad man does not strive to ascend to the source
whence he came. But why should we not suppose
that he has somewhat divine in him, seeing that he is
a part of God 1 This element that contains us is one,
is God, whose fellows and whose members we are.

‘ De iv. 7. * Ep. xciv. * Be Benrf., vi. 23.

102

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

The bad man is defective for good, but the presence
of virtue and soul in a human body brings the man to
a level with the gods ; he tends towards them, mindful
of his origin.^

In poverty and contempt of riches we may make our-
selves worthy of God.^ The mind of the wise only is
worthy of God. We must live in His sight, nothing
being closed from His view. He is present to our
minds, He intervenes in the midst of our thoughts, yet
as one who may at some time depart. A rect and
good and great soul, what is this but God sojourning
in the body of man? Such a soul may fall to the
Roman knight, to the freedman, or to the slave. Knight,
freedman, slave ! Mere names, the offspring of ambi-
tion or of wrong. You may stealthily find heaven
from any corner by a leap and bound. Do but arise
and make yourself worthy of God.®

You need not raise your hands to heaven ; you need
not ask the chapel-keeper to let you pour your prayer
into the ears of the image, that you may be heard the
better. God is near at hand, is with you, within you. I
tell you, Lucilius, a sacred spirit sits within us, observer
and guardian of our good and evil. He treats us as
we treat Him. There is no good man without God.*
Remarkable is the protest against verbal quibbles,
andtheinsistance on nominal differences where

One Essence , . t , rr^^ nr*

in many there IS HO esseiitial distinction. The effort is
always to guide our thinking as well as our
conduct secundum naiuram, according to the realities
that we find in our minds. It is idle, for example, to
say that we are under debt to Nature and not to God,
because these thoughts are inseparable. If you had

1 Ep. xcii
8 Ep. xxri.

® Ep. xviii., icii,
^ Ep. xli.

EOMAI? MOEALITT A2fD EELIGIOX.

103

received a good offer from Seneca, you would say you
were in debt to Annaeus or to Lucius ; the creditor
would be the same, though the name were changed.
Seneca is the same man, whether you pronounce his
name, his forename, or his surname. Just so Nature,
Fate, Fortune : all are names of one and the same God,
who makes a various use of His power. And so in
morals. Justice, probity, prudence, fortitude, finigality
are the goods of one soul. If you are pleased with any
of them, you are pleased with the soul.^

These philosophers never perplexed themselves with
the idle question whether life was worth
living. They recognise that the love of life
is so natural, that they direct all the force of their ex-
hortation to fortify the mind against the fear of death.
But they felt that life was not to be bought at any
price. The main thing is to live well and to die well :
the question of sooner or later is an impertinence.
We should live as in a tent, expecting to migrate. To
die well is to escape the risk of living iU.^

The Stoic will not be so inept as to repeat the Epi-
curean cant, and tell his friend that idle are
the fears of hell, and the tales of Ixion’s
wheel, and Sisyphus’ stone, and Prometheus’ liver.
There is none so childish as to fear Cerberus and the
shades and ghostly skeletons. Either death consumes
us or it sends us forth. In the former case, nothing
remains of us. In the latter, better things await us,
for we have had a burden removed.

We die daily, for we daily lose some part of life ;
and when we increase, life decreases. This very day
we divide with death. It is not the last drop which
drains the water-clock, but all that has flowed down
^ De JSeTi^.p iv. 8. ^ Ep. Ixx*

104

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

before; and the last hour of our existence does not
bring death, but only consummates it. We die many
times ; our last death is that which snatches us away.

A brave and wise man ought not to flee, but to
march forth from life. And above all, we should avoid
the lust of dying, which seizes upon many.^ The prayer
of Maecenas was extremely base, on the other hand,
when he longed for life, though in the absence of all
that mahes life a good.*

When that day shall come which shall separate this
The Better mixture of the divine and human, I shall
Life Beyond, jeave this body where I found it; I shall re-
store myself to the gods ; not that I am now apart from
them, but an element of the grave and terrene detains
me. Through these delays of mortal time there is a
prelude to yonder better and longer life. This space
from infancy to old age is like a preparation for a
second birth of nature. Another origin expects us,
another state of things. ’Tis only after an interval
that we can bear heaven. I look intrepidly forward to
yonder decretory hour. ’Tis the last hour for the body,
not for the soul. Look upon all that hes around you
as the furniture of an inn. You may not take out
more than you brought in. . . . That day that you
dread as your last is your eternal birthday. Lay down
the burden ! ^

It is sometimes said that Seneca is profuse in words.
Is it not to be admired that on topics so trite as life’s
elementary interests and duties there should be so
great an abundance of expression? The stream of
eloquence is always sweet and pure, and of clearness
undisturbed. He accosts us never as a superior, always
as a brother or a friend. A gentle and strong hand
^ Ep. xxiv, 2 Ep. ci. 3 Ep. cii

EOMAN MORALITY AND RELIGION.

is held out to us ; we are allured and enticed, never
scourged to better things.

After our daily visit to his school we carry awaw
something good, and hope that we return home in
saner, or at least more sensible mood. "We are, as
he says, like one who has visited the shop of the
perfumer, and who bears away the fragrance of the
place.^

A few starry words, a few great guiding conceptions,
sum up the whole doctrine. We know not how long
after the downfall of the Empire it continued to form
the better minds, and to mix with the Puritan feeling
of the Arabians. But the Epistles of Seneca, which
are a more precious gift to the human race than aU the
Mediaeval books of the Church, were never proclaimed
as something sent down from heaven. They have been
cast into the shade and the dust as if obsolete, whereas
their vital spirit and truth is ever fresh and acceptable
to man as man. The great object of the philosopher
was to bring us to true libertas; the object of all the
book-religionists must be to render us intellectual
slaves.

The Greek and Roman preacher never sends us to
turn Sibylline leaves ; he sends us to communion and
consultation with the oracle of the heart, for purifica-
tion and amendment to the energy of the wiU. Every
confidence is placed in reason ; none in revelations to
a special and privileged class. It is the teaching of
souls strengthened and refined by the fire of suffering.
Always in the background we see the horse-rack, the
prison, the dismal island of exile, the loss of goods;
always the deep sense that there are spiritual posses-
sions on which no tyrant may lay his hand.

1 Ep. cviii

THE EISE OF CHEISTEHDOM.

106

Claudian three centimes later continues to preach
like lofty lessons in high places. They are

Claudian. , •' » , , . , i

lessons 01 gentleness which make conduct
and sentiment the essence of piety. Clemency is the
guardian of the great world ; she dwells in the
On Clemency. of Jove, gives the middle temperature to

the sky, is eldest of the celestial dwellers ; she first dis-
solved Chaos, dispersed the darkness, and poured light
upon the ages. She needs no temples, nor altars glow-
ing with, incense ; she enjoys a seat in the good man’s
breast, and inspires her lessons of pacific wisdom. The
ruler should be slow to wrath and ready to pardon, after
the example of the Father in heaven, who casts His holts
on rocks and monsters of the sea, but spares our lives.

The sister of Clemency is Good Faith, and she should
share the heart and enter every act. She, the

Good Faith,

white-robed spmt, forbids you to use a moral
dye, to speak the false, to delay the promise, to hide the
virus of hatred deep in the bosom, to draw a bright mask
over fraud. She confirms friendships by time, and binds
them as with adamant that will last. She conquers
enemies with arms, and friends with merits. Justice and
Patience, Temperance, and Prudence, and Constancy,
in like manner religiously personified, join their choirs,
and gird themselves in the heart for diverse uses. Vices
are importune spirits sent forth from Tartarus’ caves —
Avarice, with jaws that gape for gold, and her trusty
nurse, Ambition, who crouches in the vestibules and
doors of the powerful and mahes a market of honours.
Stilicho, true to the old Eoman spirit, will pick out
men for advancement from all quarters ; he will inquire
for merit, not for ancestry — the quality of the man, and
not his extraction. The road will be open to genius ;
the Muses wiU lift their heads.

ROMAN MORALITY AYD RELIGION.

107

Then how glowing is the picture of Eome from the
pen of the same poet, as parent of arms, of
laws, source of empire, cradle of law. The
same feeling lives in Claudian that insphred the famous
lines of Virgil, “ Excudent alii” &c.

Eome alone takes the conquered to her bosom, and
fosters the human race under a common name, after
the manner of a mother, not of a domina. Her
pacific customs have rendered the Empire the father-
land of all, so that one may change one’s abode and
still find oneself at home, from farthest Thule to river
Orontes. We Eomans are all one people, nor shall
there ever be a bound to the Eoman rule.

When we come to the third and the fourth century
of OUT era, we find a new influence beginning The New
to make itself felt in the schools. In theo-
logy the philosophers are aiming to estabhsh
the Unitarian principle, though they continue to speak
of “ the gods.” And in the conduct of life they establish
a strict ascesis, which is regarded as a means of arriv-
ing at a closer communion with the Divine. Seed was
sown in the cities of the East, in Eome, and in South
Italy, of which the monks of St. Basil were to reap the
fruits after the decline of Islam.

Most instructive in this respect are the lives of
Pythagoras, written by members of the Pythagorean
sect, lamblichus, Porphyry, and Numenius. These lives
are not in the modem sense biographies. They are
poetic constructions of a typical life, which they believed
had been once lived among men, about eight hundred
years agone, and which they felt to be an exemplar
to aE members of the Pythagorean communion. The
materials of the life have been derived from the actual
institutes and customs of that communion. Hence, just

THE EISE OF CHEISTEHDOIL

108

as in later ages the life of a Basil, a Gregory, or a
Benedict miixors the sentiments and ideals of the great
Orders, so in the great days of the old Empire the life
of Pythagoras reflects the sentiments and the ideals of
the old Coenobite philosophers.

They look back npon their founder as one who,
Life of while still a youth, attracted to himself honour
Pythagoras, reverence by reason of his gravity and
virtue wherever he was seen or heard. Many affirmed,
and with reason, that he was a son of God. So religious,
calm, and sweet was his whole demeanour, it seemed
that some good spirit had come to sojourn in the
isle of Samos.^ In later times, his teaching made so
deep an impression upon his disciples, that they refused
to call him by his proper name, and designated him
“ The Divine One,” or simply “ That Man.”

There was in his system a perfect blending of morality
with religion. In early life he visited Sidon, Byblus,
and Tyre, and from love of tJieoria or contemplation,
not from superstition, was initiated in the religious
rites of Syria. He visited Carmel, and passed much
time in the temple there alone.^

He passed into Egypt and imbibed divine wisdom
at the fountain-head in intercourse with priests and
prophets for the space of twenty-two years.

Einally, he came to Croton, and founded there his
Coenobite school or order, so called because of their com-
munity of life and goods. Their number is said to have
been six hundred. They met with their wives and chil-
dren in a Homacoion, or common auditorium. So Magna
Graecia was founded. His laws and mandates were

^ The liie is said hy Eunapius of Apollonius of Tyans.

* WLich of course gives occasion to tiie Carmelite Order, founded in the
twelfth or thirteenth century, to claini him as one of their fraternity. See
P. Tessiere the Carmelite, 1612, in his Hid. Oarmelitanoe, &c.

EOMAJSr MORALITY AJSTD REUGIOISr.

log

received as sent fi:om heaven, from which they would
not depart a nail’s breadth. Their concord and happi-
ness were universally praised. They looked up to their
beloved chief as an Apollo or other spiritual being,
who, that he might reform human life, had appeared in
human form. He came to impart the saving beams of
happiness and philosophy to the race of mankind. A
greater blessing hath never, will never, come than this
divine gift in the person of Pythagoras. He came to
remove blindness from our eyes, that we might see the
true principle and causes of the whole universe ; that
he might establish the best form of policy, concord
among the people, community of goods among friends,
the cult of the gods, holy rites to the departed, sound
legislation, learning, continence of the tongue, absti-
nence from animal food, temperance and self-control,
and all that is worthy of love among true disciples.

He fiUed the enslaved cities of Italy and Sicily with
the spirit of freedom, and redeemed them from the
power of tyrants. He removed sedition and discord.
Short sayings, dehvered now to a small and now to
a larger audience, gave the sum and epitome of his
wisdom. To expel disease from the body and igno-
rance from the mind, and put down lavish expense
in luxuries, to drive away dissension from the home,
and faction from the city, and excess from aU lives,
these were his aims. Like a loving father, he ad->
dressed to each his admonitions. At Delos he had
won admiration because he prayed only at the altar of
Apollo Genetor, which alone was bloodless.

Winning are the pictures of his activity as a
preacher. He would enter the gymnasium at Croton,
and the young men would gather about him. He
would impress upon them the principle of seniority

no

THE EISE OF CHEISTEHDOM.

in nature, and apply it to teach them reverence
to parents. So unhesitatingly is the good of life
assumed, he said that they should be as grateful to
them who gave them life as a dead man would be
to one who brought him up again to the light. He
even thought, this Confucius of the West, that the
gods would pardon those who gave equal honour to
parents, seeing that our parents taught us divinity.
Fraternal love was to be cultivated, and they were so
to behave that friends should never be converted into
enemies ; enemies should be as quickly as possible
converted into firiends. And then he would speak of
temperance, and how that it was the only virtue that
befitted alike the youth and the maiden, and women and
the elders. He would remind them that the terrible
calamities of the Trojan War had been brought on by
Heaven in punishment for the incontinence of one man.

He urged them to cultivate the mind. The mere
care of the body was like a hollow friendship, soon
at an end; but education, like an honest and good
friend, would last them to the end, and perhaps confer
an undying glory on their memory. Strength and
beauty, health and courage, could not be transferred.
Riches and public honours could not be recalled, once
they had slipped from your hands ; but the man who
imparts learning to another is none the worse him-
self. The habit of calling in the beauty of old poetic
ideas to enforce moral lessons constantly appears. As
Themis sits by Jove, and by Pluto Dis, so law must
rule in cities, and the man who acts unjustly should
be made to appear a transgressor against all the world.
Senators should not abuse the name of the gods in
oaths, but should so act and speak as to be believed
without an oath at all.

EOATAIT MORALITY AUD EELIGIOK.

Ill

He was strong on the duties of domestic life, the
love of children and of wife. Other contracts might
be written on parchments or on columns, hut that of
husband and wife was confirmed by the children. He
laid down — a caustic anticipatory critique upon the sys-
tem of the monks — that it was the greatest of wrongs
to tear children and parents asunder.

He said that those who aimed at honours would do
well to imitate those who were crowned in the games.
These did not injure their adversaries, but only strove
to gain the victory themselves. He who arrived at
true glory should be indeed what he desired to appear
to be in other’s eyes. For praise was a more sacred
thing than counsel ; it concerned the gods to adjudge
it. The gods loved to be approached by suppliants
who from earliest youth had been imbued with good-
ness. In a drought, he advised that a band of such
boys should be sent to pray for rain. Preaching to
the women who assembled in the Temple of Juno, he
taught them to think highly of gentleness and good-
ness of soul (exKtKeto), that they might be the more
acceptable to the gods. They should offer to the
gods the preparation of their own hands, without the
help of slaves, — cakes and honeycombs, and incense, —
but they were never to worship the divinity with
slaughter and with blood.

Language showed that the Sex had close relations
with piety. Each period of woman’s life had given
a name to divinity. The unwedded girl was called
Kore (Proserpine), the wedded woman Nymph, she
who bore children Mother, the grandmother in the
Doric dialect Maia. It was a Woman who gave forth
the oracle at Dodona and at Delphi. Thus were
divine virginity and motWhood the reflection of the

112

THE EISE OE CHRISTENDOM:

human institutes, as they always had been. Nor is it
difficult to understand how, after such preparation, the
Virgin Mother of the Arabs and then of the CathoHcs
should have laid so strong a hold upon the feeling and
fancy of the peoples of the Mediterranean. It is said
that Pythagoras’ preaching was followed by a refor-
mation in the manners of women. They hung up
their costly garments in the Temple of Juno ; and the
faithfulness of Crotonian husbands became matter of
fame, after the example of Ulysses, who refused the
immortality offered by Calypso on condition that he
should desert Penelope.

The new Pythagoreans believed that it was the
noblest thing in the world to be a member of the
society of philosophers, and that wisdom was the con-
templation of first principles of the fair, the divine, the
incorruptible. One of tbe most refined features of the
system was the stress it laid on music, to the calming
sounds of which the Coenobites lay down to rest.
Pythagoras taught them the most comprehensive idea
of friendship ever known : it related them to God and
to all men. Whether sleeping or waking, they were
to be in intercourse with heaven.

Another characteristic of the system was the in-
stitute of silence. It was held that the founders of
the mysteries had signified that the most difficult
of vurtues was the continence of the tongue. They
who had stood the proof of five years’ silence were
thought worthy to know the esoteric doctrines, and
beheld and listened to Pythagoras behind the veil
They were forbidden to divulge certain doctrines to
the crowd; and a symbolic envelope shrouded them
from all but the initiate. In this, as in other fea-
tures of the system, a compliance of ancient religious

E0MA2T MOEALITT AED EELIGIOJST.

113

■usage is indicated rather than any jealous reserve of
kno'wledge. He gave out short oracular sayings, as
“Take off your shoes •when you sacrifice and adore.
Turn aside from the broad road, and tread the narrow
path. Do not speak of Pythagorean matters 'vdthout
a light.”

But we need not pursue these illustrations. One
of the greatest services the philosophers rendered to
mankind was in their unanimous upholding of the true,
the beautiful, and good alike in conduct and in theo-
logical contemplation. In popular lore, the gods and
dsemons, being above Nature and man, might be, and
were, savage, cruel, and immoral. The philosophers,
though they dreaded the reproach of superstition, kept
up the sacrifices, but rejected bloodshedding, and im-
parted to the gods that pure and lofty character by
which they became the exemplars to humanity. The
practices they could not arrest they strove to transform
into a better significance. And one of the best illustra-
tions of their influence is to be found in the record
of Julian’s last campaign, when his ffiends the philo-
sophers sought to counteract by appeals to reason and
experience, the gloomy vaticinations of the Etruscan
soothsayers.

The death-bed of that great Emperor is one of the
most affecting scenes that ancient literature offers.
Whether the words ascribed to him actually fell firom
his lips or were only considered appropriate to the
occasion, we know not. There seems no particular
ground for doubting their authenticity. In any case,
they reveal the best thought of the time concerning
the way in which good men should live and might be
expected to die. It is a document of immense weight

in reference to our present investigations. We find it

E

114

THE RISE OE CHEISTEHDOM,

hard to forgive those Basilian monks and false pre-
tenders to philosophy, who sat down in their cells
some thousand years after that scene, to draw a foolish
caricature of the Emperor, to deface him almost beyond
recognition, and at the same time to misrepresent
those institutes of antiquity from which they were
actually borrowing their own. We have not lost the
feeling of the Pythagoreans, — that respect for the spirits
of the great dead is a chief article of true religion,
and shall rejoice if this good comes out of our studies,
that gallant and great spirits, like the imperial philo-
sopher, shall resume the place in our reverence of which
they have been so long deprived.

Julian exults in restoring life, as a debtor of good
faith, to Nature, who claims it again. He is not cast
down and sad, for he has been thoroughly taught, in
the general opinion of philosophers, that the soul is
much more blessed than the body, and he thinks that
there is cause for joy rather than for grief when the
better condition is separated from the worse. The
celestial gods have made death the highest reward of
some of the most pious of men. Equally is he a coward
who longs to die when he ought not, and who refuses
death when death is opportune. Julian rebuked the
weeping friends who stood around his couch with ah
his authority, saying it was unworthy to mourn a prince
who had been reconciled to Heaven and the stars.
His last moments were spent in conversing with
Maximus and Priscus on the sublimity of souls.’-

If the student compares -with such memories the
■writings of the monks who, under the names Gregory
of Nazianzus and Jerome, pretend they were con-
temporaries of Julian and other “mad dogs against

* Ammian, R. G., xxv. 3, 15.

EOMAN MOEALITY AXD EELIGI02T.

”5

Clirist,” he will discover the A’ast interval both in point
of time and of sentiment that exists between the
old philosophers and the sophists and forgers of the
cloisters.

The principles of the philosophers forbade them to
submit to any tyranny, human or divine ; and it is
probable that they looked with a jealous eye upon the
Imperial system of government, especially when it
began to assume the form of a despotism. Many of
their number cruelly suffered on suspicion of con-
spiracy and treason during the latter part of the fourth
century. At the stated time of Mohammed’s birth
they are altogether blotted out from our view. Nor
can they — ^if we understand them aright — have been
reconciled to the men of the Koran or the Mishna.
But they prepared the way by their customs and
institutes for a class of men who, under the name of
Philosophy, had a despotic Christology to introduce.

From the death of Socrates to the end of the old
Empire stretches a period of about a thousand years,
the most important in the whole history of our culture.
Vast is our debt to the philosophers and their schools.
It would, of course, be absurd to maintain that the men
themselves were always worthy of their noble pro-
fession and calling ; but the profession itself tended
to gather the best spirits together, and to raise and
preserve the tone of society. Their interests were the
interests of political and spiritual liberty ; they were
men whose ideas outstripped rather than lagged behind
the time. We will sacrifice to candour, and admit any
criticism that can be fairly urged against the philo-
sophers and their schools when they are brought into
comparison with the Moslems, the Kabbins, or the
monks of East and West. Yet, after aU, the spiritual

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

1 16

monuments of antiquity give massive testimony, direct
and indirect, in their favour. The literature that we
have loved so long and well — the literature of Greece,
and Eome, and England — is inspired by the love that
animated their hearts, and all vigour in art is traceable
to virtue and wisdom. Whether we be Orientals or
Westerns, we own them as our common masters and
friends. They will not have us for their obsequious
slaves. Sit anima nostra cum philosophis !

In some respects the later philosophers show a
^ declension of spirit from that of the Stoics.

Seneca does not find myth and miracle neces-
sary to recommend his doctrines. But in Philos-
tratus’ Life of ApoUonius and in lamblichus’ Life of
Pythagoras both are resorted to ; though with nothing
like the luxury and gross extravagance of fiction of
which the monks were to be guilty. Yet this mira-
culous element serves to mark the midway point
between the older philosophy or religion and that of
the Middle Ages.

The miracles of Pythagoras axe finely conceived as
illustrative of his chara,cter and the dignity of his
doctrine. Egyptian sailors came to take him from
Mount Carmel, thinking that they should sell him for
a great price ; but they were awestruck as they saw
him descending the dangerous steep, imdelayed by
precipice or stone. When he came to the skiff, he
simply said, “Is the course for Egypt?” and em-
barked. During the voyage he sat silent, fasting for
two nights and two days ; nor was he observed to
sleep. The vessel enjoyed , a smooth and imbroken
course, and the sailors concluded that they bore a
divine being into Egypt. They abstained from evil
words, and were more serious in their discourse than

EOMAN MOEALITY AND EELIGIOX.

”7

usual. They landed in perfect calm, and proceeded
to raise on the sand, extempore, an altar before him,
which they loaded with fruits and with the firstlings
of their merchandise. They then made for their port,
and he partook of the fruit, and repaired, with his
usual tranquil and modest mien, to some neighbouring
dwellings.

At Croton he came upon fishers by the shore, who
dragged a net loaded with fishes, and he prophesied
the exact number that had been taken. They promised
to do whatever he bade them if the event should turn
out according to his prediction, and the result was
that not a fish was lost. The whole were returned to
their native element, while the divine one paid the
price to the fishermen, who noised his fame abroad,
and brought together a multitude, who came to gaze
with astonishment on his face, and to believe that he
was such a one as in truth he was.^

It was a favourite belief that he had power over
animals. He tamed the Daunian bear, bound her by
an oath to hurt the living no longer, and sent her
to the mountains, whence she appeared no more. He
whispered bovine language into the ear of an ox at
Tarentum, and persuaded him to abstain from beans.
The animal was long kept by Juno’s temple, and was
fed on human diet. The tale is of religious edification
in reference to that kind of abstinence.® At Olympia
he brought down an eagle from the height, stroked it,
and let it go. He was another Orpheus. He was also
held to have known a previous State of existence, and
to have made it his principle to teach men by reminding

1 PoTphyr., Num., 25 ; lambL, c. 8. Of. Pint, Symp.f viii. 8 ; Apnl.,
Apol, 294-

* Cf. Pint, Kuma, 65 ; - 3 Elian, V. H., iv. 17.

THE RISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

ii8

them of the life they had formerly enjoyed. There
is nothing gross in these appeals to the feeling for
wonder.

Our object is to point out that there was to the latest
days of the Empire an intellectual aristocracy of men,
whose discipline may be compared, and stiU more con-
trasted, with the monachism of six centuries later.
The monks have tried hard to force themselves into
the society of Porphyry, Celsus, and Julian ; hut their
co-existence in the Empire with the philosophers is a
simple impossibility. If by no other fact, by this an
impassable gulf is created between the last philosopher
and the first monk, that the former have no inkling
whatever of a lawgiver, Moses, or of a law and gospel
of Arabian or Hebrew origin, whence the precepts of
living are infallibly to be derived.

CHAPTEE V.

THE ETHICS OF THE MONASTERIES.

As Englishmen, we cannot but look back with wistful
regret to the time when the inhabitants of these islands
were Komans, and when such sentences as those of
Seneca, such verses as those of Claudian, were listened
to in Eoman houses in London or York during the
fifth century of our era. When we pass from the
atmosphere of such sentiments to that of MedisBval
or Holy Romanism, we find a contrast so violent
that nothing but the direst revolution and the lapse
of many ages can account for.

The ethics of the Christian Empire are the ethics of
the monasteries. The Christian writers can
think of no higher mode of life for any of
us than the life of monk or nun — no higher
destiny than that of the cloister. They who parade so
many romantic instances of kings who renounced the
palace and the purple for the cell, can certainly offer
no higher honour to the mass of mankind. The monks
and nuns have always been the pick and flower of
Christians, as their modem defender, Count de Monta-
lembert, in effect observes. It is from their lips that
we must receive the laws and customs of the Christian
life. The New Testament is monastic; nor can we
fully comprehend its ethics until we carry them into
the light of the monkish commentators.

120

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOJ^I.

There is an author esteemed by both the great Orders
Joannes of St. Basil and St. Benedict, whose writings
oassianus. ^j.g j-espect Valuable, although he

did not write in the age which the catalogues assign
to him. He passes under the name Cassian, and was
connected with a monastery at Marseilles. We can
but give a brief indication of the effect produced on
feeling and imagination when we turn from long
occupation with the pages of Seneca to this great
director of the Christian conscience.

Seneca exalts us, inspires us with a sense of the
greatness and the yet unascertained capabilities of
human nature. Nor can any serious fault be found with
the Stoics’ teaching, except that they make too high
demands on human nature — a fault which they admit,
and which wins our love. But Cassian depresses and
dejects our spirit by incessantly reminding us of the
vices which beset us, of our impotence for good, and of
the immeasurable distance between ourselves and the
divine perfection.

The dress of the monk is shown to be symbolic of
The Habit of Christian virtues in all its parts, and the
the Monk, pj-gof is drawu from the example of John the
Baptist, who is indeed the prince of monks, and from
that of Peter and of Paul. Old Testament examples
are also cited. The hood denotes that they have the
innocence and simplicity of little children of Christ
(Matt, xviii. i— 6). The colobium, leaving the arms bare,
denotes the mortification of their members upon earth,
their crucifixion to the world ; and the rebrachiatories,
that they are apostolic men, studying to minister to
their necessities with their own hands. The goat-skin
shows them imitators of those who, in the Old Testa-
ment dispensation, wandered about in such attire, of

THE ETHICS OF THE MOXASTERIES.

I2I

■wliom the world was not worthy. The staff reminds
of Elisha, and enables the monk to ward off his foes
with the sign of the cross. The monk wears no shoes
because the Gospel forbids them. Sandals are per-
mitted, and reflect Old Testament and New Testament
meanings. The girdle has its sacrament : it signifies
mortification, the denial of the reign of sin, and of the
flesh, which strives against the Spirit, according to the
Apostle. He has much to say on prayer without ceas-
ing, and on the singing of psalms. It appears that the
apostolic delivery of one to Satan means “ suspension
from prayer ; ” and if any ventures to join in prayer
with one so suspended, he makes hirnself “ partaker of
his condemnation.”

The example of Peter at Pentecost is called in to
sanction the solemnity of the “ third hour,” and that
of our Lord dying as immaculate victim and descend-
ing to Hades sanctions the “ sixth hour ” and the
“ ninth hour.” ■ There are also the examples of Cor-
nelius, of Peter, and of John. The elevation of
hands at the evening sacrifice is supposed to be typi-
fied by the extension of the Lord’s hands upon the
cross.

Cassian has a tract on the Institute of Eenuncia-
tion. And when we study the picture of the

. T • 1 *1 rtRenuiiciatioii.

newly-received monk, as ne in the midst oi
the brethren is stripped of the garments which are
symbolic of worldly pride, we understand why the
head of the Church has been represented as absolutely
poor. The monk is now to be sustained, not on wealth
gained by the secular arts, or kept back from his
former infidelity, but on the holy and pious largesses
of the monastery. As a soldier of God, he will thus
receive the pay of his service. He will be no longer

122

THE EISE OF CHEISTEM)OM.

anxious for the morrow, according to the saying of
the Gospel. He will glory in being numbered with
Christ and the poor brethren.

We are dealing with ethical contrasts. It is terrible

to observe how the free-souled aspirations
Subjection, philosophers had kindled are now

replaced by abject submission to the will of their
superiors on the part of these soldiers of God. The
bright example of the Abbot John is cited, who, in
obedience to his senior, fetched a stone for building
which it was impossible for many to move, believing
that the senior could command nothing vain or un-
reasonable. Abbot Mark, in his great humility and
obedience, cast his little son into a river, at a hke
command. Abbot Pynaphius, in hke passionate love
of subjection, quitted the ccenobium over which he
presided and repaired to a distant monastery. He
“ was a city on a hiH that could not be hid.”

This complete renunciation on the part of the

Christian soldiers is their mortification and
Mortieoataon. fgg^j. q£ Lord. They

are dead to anxiety, pride, contention, rivalry. De-
funct to all the elements, they send the gaze of their
hearts whither they expect to pass, and the eyes of
their soul are cast down towards the tomb. This
renunciation will avail naught if they turn back from
the evangehcal plough, or put on again the coat of
which they have been despoiled, or come down from
the roof of perfection, or take away anything that
they have already abdicated. Let them beware of
remembering their parents and their old affections,
or of building again the things they have de-
stroyed. Only they who persevere to the end shall
be saved.

THE ETHICS OF THE IIOHASTEEIES.

123

The devil is always lying in wait to the end of our
life, to tempt us from humility and poverty, and
his “ heads,” that is, the beginnings of tempt-
ing thoughts, must be revealed to our superior, that
they may be crushed. Through many tribulations and
by a strait gate and narrow way we must enter the
kingdom of God and come to life. 'We must aspire
to be of the few who will inherit that kingdom ; for
many are called, but few chosen. The way to per-
fection is an ascent from the fear of God to charity.
Examples of this perfection are to be found in one or
in a few.

The system expressly aims at the debilitation of the
mind. The monk must be as deaf and mute and blind
to all but his ideal, immobile under abuse and re-
proaches. He must be a fool in this world that he
may be wise. He must exercise no discernment nor
judgment on the orders given to him. He must judge
that only to be sanct, useful, wise, which either the
law of God or the examen of his senior has pointed
out to him. Under this discipline he may endure
for ever in the ccenobium. In short, the ladder by
which he may easily climb to perfection consists of
these steps : the fear of the Lord, which gives birth to
salutary compunction, from which proceeds abrenuncia-
tion of all things. This bareness procreates humility.
Humility generates mortification of desires, by which
all vices are extirpated and wither. Virtues then
fructify ; in their pullulation piunty of heart is acquired,
and by purity of heart the perfection of apostolic
charity is possessed.

A moral discipline thus founded in fear and self-
distrust, and employing an artificial psychology, could
only produce results the very opposite to those arrived

124

THE EISE OF CHEISTEXDOJL

at in a system that makes the secundum naturam its
principle.

There are eight principal vices with which the monk
The Eight to Struggle, and they assume the shapes

Vices. malignant “spirits” to his enslaved ima-

gination. They are Gluttony, Fornication, Love of
Money, Wrath, Sadness, Anxiety, Vainglory, and
Pride. The struggle with these is that Agon, or
Olympian contest, which is rewarded by the crown.
The monk is the time athlete of Christ, and all the
apostolic passages which use this figure are applied
to him. It is he who runs, and boxes, and wrestles,
and there is no cessation to his fight with principa-
lities and powers. Much is said of fasting which ex-
plains dark passages in the Gospels.

It is made clear that the New Testament ethics
Love of and legends of apostolic times are the re-
Money. flections of monastic teachings, no less than
the opinions ascribed to St. Basil. Judas, Ananias,
and Sapphira furnish the prototypical warnings against
love of money, along with the Basilian saying to a
senator who kept back a part of his goods, “ You have
ruined a senator and not made a monk.” Another
warning is to be found in the rich fool of the parable.
Amidst these depressing deterrents, we come upon one
remedial piece of advice ; that of manual labour, espe-
cially gardening, as recommended by the example of
Abbot Paul. Many a vice-haunted monk must have
gone mad but for this resource.

In connection with the vice of vainglory, it should
be remembered that the discipline which
vamgioiy. eradication of this propensity

could never permit a monk to earn literary renown
for himself. It is too often forgotten that the fame

THE ETHICS OE THE MOHASTEEIES.

I2S

of literary Fathers of the Church was never enjoyed
by those who had really earned it by their pens. The
literature, like the architecture, is the work of men
compelled to renounce the “ last infirmity of noblo
minds.” Nay, the fine distinction of vainglory and
pride must yield another vice to be trampled on. It
may be remarked in passing that it is this monkish
vice of henodoxia which has been reflected upon the
philosopher Peregrinus in a tract falsely ascribed to
Lucian.

As we proceed in the study of Cassian, it becomes
apparent at every step that the New Testament is the-
production of minds kindred to his own, which are
saturated with the same ideas. They alone know
what “ the Apostle ” means, whose sentences appear to
have been thought out in the Latin tongue.

Thus the destiny, the scope, or end of the monk is
expressed in the works : “ Having your fruit The Destiny
in sanctification, but the end eternal life.”

His scope is purity of heart, justly named sanctifica-
tion, without which the aforesaid end cannot be ap-
prehended. The definition of this end is otherwise
given by the Apostle when he says, “Forgetting the
things that are behind, extending myself to those
which are before, I pursue towards the destined prize
of the supernal vocation of the Lord.” In the exposi-
tion of this passage we are led again into the way of
renunciation. Some attempt it without charity, and
become infructuous and sterile, as the Apostle foresaw
when he said, “ If I distribute all my goods to the poor
and give my body to be burned, but have not charity,
it profits me nothing.” He describes the members
of this charity, which consists in purity of heart
alone.

126

THE RISE OF CHEISTEinDOM.

Cassian proceeds to dwell on tranquillity of mind, and
Contempia- on that effort towards the contemplation of
tion. divine things which is illustrated in the
Gospel by the allegory of Martha and Mary. The
Lord said, “Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and
troubled about many things : few things are needful,
or even one. Mary has chosen the good part, which
shall not be taken away from her.” The chief good
has been placed by the Lord in theory alone, that
is, in divine contemplation. All other virtues are
secondary to this. The Lord promises the reward of
the kingdom of heaven to those who have practised
the labour of fasting, the instancy of reading, the
works of mercy, justice, piety, and humanity.

There never was a state of the world in which it can
have been so difficult to practise the virtue of theoria,
or the fixed contemplation of Christ, as that in which
we now live. The creed on which we act is that the
world in its variety is to be wisely yet as largely as
possible enjoyed. We approve those who extract the
most pleasure and profit out of existence, and at the
same time profess to follow a rule which condemns the
rich man to the intolerable ardour of eternal fire, and
denounces her that lives in delight as dead while
she lives. We must be dead in body, says the monk,
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and should desire, with
the Apostle, to depart from this flesh that we may be
joined to the Lord, to become strange and foreign to the
body that we may be present with Him. This most lively
state of souls detached from the body is represented by
the Apostle when he speaks of Mount Sion, and the Civi-
tas Dei, and the celestial Jerusalem, and the throng of
many thousand angels, and the Church of the primitive
enrolled in heaven, and the spirits of the perfected just.

THE ETHICS OF THE MOHASTEEIES.

127

Surely if there he a philosophy of the mind at all,
it teaches, and ever must teach, that the „

^ Thre©

source of thought is one. What but perplexity Sources
and self-torture can result from the teaching °
which recognises three sources of thought — God, the
devil, and ourselves ? Yet this principle, says Cassian,
explains not only the language of the ancient prophets,
but that of the Son of God when He refers to the
Spirit of the Father speaking in the disciples, and
that of the Vessel of Election when he says that
Christ speaks in him. It explains how the devil
entered the heart of Judas the Iscariot, or of Ananias,
or of the Pharisees. Hence the precept of the Lord
that we should be as “approved money-changers,”
whose skill is in the discernment of the pure gold
from the spurious coin. We must distinguish the
mint of the Spirit from Jewish superstition or swell-
ing secular philosophy.

We wish we could think that the monks claimed
Seneca as a doctor of the Church because
they admired and coveted his noble wisdom.

Alas ! they tell us that they would never
have enrolled him in the list of their illustrious had
he not exchanged letters with the Apostle Paul ; these
letters being their own forgery. They detest the
bright light of philosophy. They find in their own
consciousness that its spirit is not of God ; that is, it is
not congenial with their system. There are unhappy
men, who, after they have embraced the profession
of the monk, have been deceived by the gold-like
glitter of philosophic teaching, which is false bronze
coin. They have been deceived and rendered naked
and miserable, going back to the noise of the world or
the heretic errors and presumptions. A most alarmed

128

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

sense of the perils which beset the quiet of the cloister
is here revealed. The director of consciences is aware
how much of human goodness is outside, exerting its
baneful attraction upon the inmates. Yet these in-
ducements are but “imitations of the coin of the true
King, because they seem for the present full of piety,
but they are not from the legitimate monetarii, i.e.,
not stamped by approved and Catholic Fathers.”

There is a danger in excess of fasting, watching,
and prayer, and the desire of spiritual gain.
Sometimes a precept, however useful, must be
cut off and cast aside, and the monk must enter weak
into the kingdom of heaven, rather than run the risk of
falling into some scandal, or losing the whole body of
his works in Gehenna. The devil produces illusions
by assuming the guise of sanctity. Abbot John, after
an exhausting fast of two days, went to refection. The
devil came in the form of a black Ethiopian, and
falling at his knees, said, “ Indulge me. Abbot, because
I laid this labour on thee.” The Abbot understood that
he had been circumvented by the craft of the devil ; had
kept an unnecessarily weakening fast; had, in short,
been deceived by false coin.

Discretion is therefore eminently to be desired.
This is that “hght of the body” of which the Gospel
speaks. It is “the sun” which should not set upon
our earth ; it is the solid food of the perfect. Terrible
was the fate of the old man Heron, who, with want of
discretion, went to excess in fasting, mistook the angel
of Satan for an angel of light, and flung himself into
a deep weU. He was taken out and died on the third
day, obstinately refusing to believe that he had been
made the sport of devilish craft. So deep was his
disgrace, he was hardly accorded the usual rites of

THE ETHICS OE THE MONASTERIES.

129

burial, although his spiritual status had before been of
the loftiest. Truly a tearful story. When these soldiers
of God have carried their enthusiastic subjection to the
point of madness, and suicide results, their memory is
disgraced, because their end has so tragically censured
the system.

It was found that the recruits to the spiritual army
had been over-goaded to fasts and watches. But dis-
cretion in those practices was only to be gained by
following the example of the elders. Private judgment
cannot of course be permitted. It must be remembered
that Paul, after his visitation, consulted Ananias, and
later the apostles at Jerusalem. Yet what discretion
of any kind, original or borrowed, was to be expected of
men who were brought to church to hear that they
must hate father and mother, children, wife, and lands,
and that, if they would be perfect, they must sell all
they had and give to the poor; of men who were
horrified by the pestiferous end of Judas the traitor and
parricide, as they were captivated by the example of
the inimitable Paul? If all experience teaches that
wealth, or at least competency, is to be deemed a
condition for the cultivation of virtue, what is the con-
founding of rich men with the wicked and the doomed
but the conforuiding of the moral perceptions ?

Another mode of intellectual torture is provided in
discussions on the flesh and the spirit: an- ne nest and
other example of artificial or false psychology.

Our being is not thus sundered ; and he who follows
what the monks term the concupiscence of the spirit
arrives at a state of more dangerous self-elation than
he who frankly admits that all desires are of mixed
quality. The deep distrust of self, the contempt of the
only source whence manly acts and sentiments can

130

THE RISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

spring, darkens over the whole system. Nature is
everywhere pitchforked out of it ; and terrible, perhaps
sometimes beautiful, must have been the effect when
she came running back to redeem the cloister from
absolute inhumanity or incurable frenzy. We find in
Cassian a treatise on friendship, but he seems to have no
idea of mutual esteem and admiration. He thinks
only of a transcendental charity, another name in his
system for the idea of the transcendent God.

The fine vocabulary of the old Eoman is gone, or is
strained to some inhuman meaning. As for the old
motto. Sola 'bona qua honosta, it is never heard; it
must have been unintelligible. The monk, trained
to fix his mind on the impossible and unattainable,
falls into inconceivable pettiness and worse than
childishness in his actual conduct. As we lend our
ear to Cassian, and imagine ourselves for the time to
he on the way to monachic perfection, we find our-
selves falling into attitudes and affectations and hypo-
crisies. We are sacrificing ourselves to an idea. We
are assisting at the parade of an ancient Salvation
Army, whose collective force is secured by the efface-
ment of the individual. With Seneca we had felt
ourselves to be freemen; we are now intellectual
slaves. Weary of the long tension, we tast off our
cowl, resume our old habit, pass to the station of
spectator and critic, listen by anticipation to the
mockery of Eabelais, or to the drolleries of the abbeys
of Touraine.

The ethics that obtained in the schools of the
Eoman Empire attempt to reflect the meaning and
purport of Nature ; the Mediseval ethics strive to sub-
vert Nature. The former aim at the making of
individuals; the latter at the annihilation of them.

THE ETHICS OE THE MOHASTEKIES. 131

The former see only personal worth ; the latter the
worth only of a system. The former rest on
common feelings and disclaim all theological theory ;
the latter are nothing but a theory, destitute of all
support in the facts of our human experience. Had
we no other evidence than these violent contrasts,
we should decide that many ages were requisite to
bring about such a revolution in the world once ruled
by the old Roman spirit ; and we should also decide
that the New Testament is the chief of monastic
books, and that it cannot be detached from the atmos-
phere of the monasteries and made to fit our modern
life without glaring contempt of the fitness of times
and ^hings.

CHAPTEE VI.

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

Let us now suppose, for the sake of steadying our
thoughts, that we, children of Esau, as the MoUahs
and the Eabbins call us in their traditions, are visiting
Spain and the Mediterranean at any time during the
age 800-900, when the great empire of Islam is the
aU-impressive fact, and when the habit of pilgrimage
to Mecca, to the holy places in Syria, and to Cordova
has set in, when one great dogma and legend resounds
through aU the dominions of the Arabs. Suppose that
we are acquainted with the literature of the Greeks,
and with their sacred legends of Genesis and the
deluge in the time of Deucalion, as they stand in the
compilation of ApoUodorus.

Now for the first time we are to listen to the dogma
of creation by the will of Allah, of the first man Adam,
and of the long line of prophets and apostles, stretch-
ing from him to the second Adam, the son of Mary,
and from him to the renowned and latest apostle. It
is some two hundred years before the Eabbins in this
same city of Cordova prescribe the Saturday Sabbath
in place of the Moslem Friday, and some four hun-
dred years before the Benedictines have brought hither
the Koran, misrendered into Latin. Listening to the
preaching of the Moslem clergy, we are listening
to the earliest form in which the substance both of

132

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

the Old and New Testament were known to our
world.

The Moslems are, in fact, by virtue of their traditions,
the unanswered, and, as we hold, the un-
answerable critics of the legends both of the ohurch: The
Synago^e and of the Church. If, in a broad
illustrative sense, there are three branches of Chris-
tendom, Islam, Judaism, and Catholicism, then Islam
is the eldest. Arabia is the common mother of the
great Mediaeval tradition. The order of the three
days of worship, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, represents
the chronological relation of the three systems.

The Moslem sources are above all the Koran and

the first chronicle of A 1 Tabari, which is the

The Koran

foundation of aU the Mediaeval chronicles, ana the

, Chronicle.

We may suppose, in our ignorance of the
exact time of the first redaction of the Koran, that
in the ninth century, when mosque-building was
going forward in East and West, and when the higher
Arabian culture was in its inception, the book which
is to the Moslem the Word of God had assumed

nearly its present form. There may have been later
interpolations ; but if so, they are not of such a kind
or extent as to affect our argument. The chronicle is
said to have been composed about 900-920, and it
covers the period from the creation of the world to the
epoch of the author. About 963 it is said to have
been translated into Persian. Of the original, frag-
ments only remain. The oldest Persian MS., used by
M. Zotenberg for his French translation (1867-74),
is believed by him to date from the thirteenth century.
Yet only a vague and confused notion of the Catholic
dogma of the Trinity is in one place hinted. The
careful study of these two sources teaches us that the

134

THE EISE OF CHEISTEHDOM.

great Arabian tradition is prior to, and therefore inde-
pendent of, the traditions of the Synagogue and of
the Church.

The truth has been long concealed from us on this
matter, owing to the fact that the Benedictines first
mistranslated the Koran in the interests of Church
dogma, and that the prejudice so created has never
since been removed. The Latin translation is as-
cribed to the impulse of Peter, Abbot of Cluny {1143).
It is said to have been executed by Eobertus Ee-
tenensis, deacon of Pampeluna, and Hermannus
Dalmata.^

The gross and wilful mistake has been made by the
translators, — that they who had resolved to denounce
Mohammed as an impostor and false prophet have in-
troduced the name of Jesus Christ into their transla-
tion. Now, neither Jesus nor Christ, nor the dogma
of the person of Christ as held in the Church, is to
be found in any part of the Moslem Word of God. To
this day every true follower of Islam denies, and must
deny, with the vehemence of faith and of intelligent
conviction, that there is aught in common between Isa,
son of the virgin Mariam, sister of Harun, the glorious
prophet, last in the succession before Mohammed, and
the crucified one of Catholic tradition.

A further wilful blunder consisted in the rendering
of the phrase “ People of the Book ” in the Koran by
“Jews and Christians.” The only people who can
furnish us with an account of the origin of the term
Jehudim are the doctors of the Synagogue ; and
certainly they have nothing to tell us concerning
Ycthood at Medina in the time of the rise of Islam.

^ Fabiicius, B^l, Med. et Inf. Lat., x. 660. The date is proleptic,
probably by at least two centuries.

THE TEADITIOHS OF THE MOSQUE.

13s

The only class of men who can historically explain the
term Christiani is the great Basilian and Benedictine
confederacy. The word is their own coinage. The
Koran knows nothing of Christiani. A fresh and
exact rendering of the book is sorely needed in the
interests of literary science.

When we come to the Koran with minds disabused
of the Mediaeval dishonesty, we find that the book is
nothing less than the original Bible, i.e., the source
of those legends of Origins which have been retold
by the Rabbins in Bible and Talmud. It is also the
source of the Catholic legend of Mary, mother of
Jesus, or, in their altered version, Mary, mother of
God. As this subject is so utterly misunderstood, we
subjoin a brief outline of the oracles of the Koran
and the connected Chronicle.

First, Allah created the world, the earth as a carpet,
and the heaven as a roof, and caused to ^ ^ .

11-1 TT Legends of

descend from heaven water, with which He
produced the fruits (Sur. ii. 20). He estab-
lished the sun to give light, and disposed the moon
in stations, that the number of years and the reckon-
ing of time might be known (Sur. x. 5). He created
the heavens and the earth and all that is between
them in six days (Sur. 1 . 37). But one day is for
the Lord as a thousand years (Sur. xxii. 46) ; the
work of creation therefore occupied six thousand years
(Chron. i. 3).

The earth was created in two days (Sur. xh. 8-1 1).
The creation of trees and water followed, then that
of the seven heavens, and stars, and the angels.
Lastly, Adam was created and placed in Paradise.
The angels were bidden to worship him. Allah felt
no fatigue after the work of creation (Sur. 1 . 37).

136

THE RISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

The Dj 4 ns or genii were created of flaming fire, and
the world was given to them (Sur. Iv. 14) ;

Adam. Allah declared that he would

establish on earth his vicar (Sur. ii. 28). Adam was
created out of the dust (Sur. xxii. s), through the
ministry of Gabriel, Michael, and Izrail. Allah
caused him to know the names of all things. And
the angels adored Adam, with the exception of Eblis
(Sur. ii. 32, XV. 30).

And Allah said, “ Why didst thou not adore
Adami” He answered, “Because Thou didst create
him of earth and me of fire; I am better than he”
(Sur, vii. ii).

And Allah said, “ My curse shall be upon thee
till the day of judgment” (Sur. xxxviii. 79). His
form was changed to that of a devil because of his
pride.

And Allah said to Adam, “ Dwell in Paradise, thou
and thy wife. Eat abundantly of the things that it
produces where ye will ; but draw not near to this tree,
that ye may not be of the number of the unrighteous ”
(Sur. ii. 33). It was on Friday that Adam entered
Paradise, and he dwelt there five hundred years of this
world (Chron. i. 26).

And Eblis tempted Adam and Eve, saying, “Your
TheTempta- 3^0^^ hath uot forbidden you this tree, but
lest ye should become angels or immortal”
(Sur. vii.).

He caused them to fall through deceit ; and when
they had tasted of the tree, their nakedness appeared
to them, and they gathered leaves of Paradise to cover
them. They were ashamed of one another. A voice

1 honoured, as distinguished from worshipped in the highest sense
(Chron. i. 26).

THE TRADITIONS OE THE MOSQUE

137

was heard; trees and angels spoke on all sides, and
the guilty pair were stupefied.

The chronicle tells that the serpent, the most beauti-
ful creature next to Adam, had introduced ^
Eblis in its mouth to Paradise. Four branches
of the trees of Paradise were lowered ; each attached
itself to a body of Adam, Eve, Eblis, and the serpent,
and so they were chased from Paradise. It seems that
Paradise was conceived as the seventh heaven ; thence
they are cast down upon earth.

It is the legend of the origin of sin and shame ; and
the proper standpoint for its intelhgence is the mosque
at Mecca, Adam was cast down on Mount Serandib
in Hindostan, Eve at Djidda by the sea, seven parasangs
from Mecca, the serpent at Ispahan, Eblis at Simnan.
Allah was wroth with the serpent and took away his
four feet, so that he crawled on his belly. He became
the enemy of the children of Adam, and was condemned
to eat dust.

The naive effort to trace the origin of human anti-
pathies to primeval guilt is also seen in the legend
of the peacock, who led Eve to the forbidden fruit,
so sinned against Allah and lost his voice. Certain
plants are traced up to Adam’s tears of sorrow or of
joy. For after four hundred years Gabriel was sent
to Adam to assure him of the mercy of Allah.

“He learned words from his Lord, and the Lord
returned to him, for it is He who returns, recon-
the Compassionate” (Sur. ii. 35). caedtoAUah.

He was then taught agriculture and other arts of
life. His stature was reduced; for he had touched
the first heaven and could hear the voice of angels ;
his physical structure was adapted to his life in this
world. Then there was brought down from heaven

138 THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

by order of Allah the visited house,” and placed at
Mecca on the site where now stands the temple.
The black stone was then white and brilliant (Chron.
i. 27 ).

Adam and Eve, reunited, went to Mecca, and made
procession round “ the visited house.” They then
repaired to Mount Serandib, tilled the earth and built
houses. They were alone in the world.

Then Ebhs demanded and obtained of Allah the
boon of life until the last day, when Israfil should
sound his trumpet and the dead should come forth.
(At that epoch the living will never die. Death itself,
in the form of a sheep, will be brought and slain.)
Then Ebhs a second time sought to deceive Adam.
The children of Adam and Eve died. When Eve was
about to give birth for the fourth time to a child, Eblis
foretold a long life for it, and gained from Adam the
promise that it should be his. Adam consented, and
named the child Abdal-Hareth, because Hareth had
been the name of Eblis before he rebelled against
Allah. But the child died at the end of two years

Then Eve bore two sons, Kl,bil and Hibil. Adam

KMaiid would have given to H^bil the twin-sister
of KS,bil to wife, but K^bil was not satisfied.
Therefore Adam said to them, “ Go and offer a sacri-
fice ; and to him whose sacrifice Allah shall accept,
I will give this young girl.” The sacrifice of H4bil
the shepherd was accepted, and that of K4bil the
husbandman was rejected. Adam gave the young
girl to Habil. Then said K4bil to Hl,bil, “I will
slay him,” and after that sought occasion to slay
him.

^ This act was imputed as a sin to Adam. The dedication of children
to evil beings is a strong theme in popular tales.

THE TEADITIONS OE THE MOSQUE.

139

One day when H 4 bil was asleep on a mountain, K 4 bil
went thither, took a great stone, cast it at the „ . . ^

° Origin of

head of Hibil and slew him. In fear of
Adam, he took the corpse on his back and
went through the world. He knew not what to do
with the body. Then Allah inspired two ravens to go
before K&bil and fight with one another. One slew
the other, then digged a hole with his beak and hid
the dead bird in the earth. K^bil said, “ I have not
so much sense as this raven ! I will place my brother
under the earth.” Then he buried H 4 bil. Kl.bil was
the first murderer, H&bil the first to be buried. Adam,
hearing of the death of his son, went to seek K&bil,
but found him not, and recited an elegy bewailing his
unjust death (Sur. v. ; cf. Chron. i. 30).^

Young Adam made a pilgrimage from Serandib to
Djidda, near Mecca. On one occasion he The Posterity
slept in a valley, and Gabriel was sent to him
to cause all his posterity that should be born until the
day of judgment to come forth from his loins and to
be shown to him. There were 120 male Pie^existence
children. Half were placed on his right hand,
half on his left. He said to them on the right, “ These
shall surely be in Paradise,” and to them on the left,
“They shall certainly go into hell” (Sur. vii. 171 ; cf.
Chron. i. 31).

In the same connection another legend impresses a
precept of the law on the memory. When Tteovo
Gabriel came to the Prophet David among
Adam’s posterity, Adam gave him forty years of his own
life. At the end of his life Adam repented, and said
to Allah, “ Give me back these forty years,” and denied
the surrender of them. And Allah said, “ When you
^ It is the Rahbios who borrow this story in part Pirk4, c. 20,

140

THE EISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

give aught to any one, take witnesses.” “Call in witness
two men from among you” (Sux. ii. 282 ; cf. Chron. i. 3 1).
Seth was horn to Adam at the age of 120 years.
The name is said to signify “ Gift of God.”

Ssifli ^ *

He succeeded Adam as lord of the earth, was
a prophet, and had the most numerous posterity. Allah
sent from heaven 114 books: of these, fifty were sent
to Adam and Seth, thirty to the prophet Noah, twenty
to Abraham, and ten to other prophets. The last were
the Law, the Psalter, the Gospel, and the Koran,
sent to Mohammed (Chron. i. 32).

"When Adam died, Gabriel was sent to Seth to bear
Burial friDi til© gift of piophecy and to order him to
Customs, body of Adam, and wrap it in a

cloth and bury it. The custom has obtained to this
day among the children of Adam, and will obtain till
the Resurrection. Seth recited over Adam the techirs
or legal prayers. Many say that Adam’s tomb is near
Mecca. Eve died a year later, and was buried with
him. It is said that at the deluge Noah placed their
bones in the ark, and afterwards buried them at the
Holy Place (lb. i. 33).

Seth had a son and successor, Enos, and Enos had a
Enos. 'f'ery wise son, Cainan. These two were kings,
oatnan. prophets. Cainan begat Malaleel,

and Malaleel, Jared. Jared was not a prophet, but his
son Edris received the gift of prophecy.^

Edris was of Hindostan, but dwelt in Yemen. In

Edris (of fire-worshippers. Edris

read to them the books of Ibrahim, and
called them to Allah. He was the first
writer with the reed, also the first tailor. So devout

1 The nane Enoch is Syriac. I have generally followed Zotenberg’s
rendering of fte names.

THE TEADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

141

was he, that during about ten years he never lay down
at night, but prayed and read the books of invention of
Ibrahim.

The angel of death then came to him, and bade him
ask some boon at his hands. Edris replied, “I ask
that thou wilt take my soul.” The angel replied that
the time of Edris was not come. Then Edris prayed
the angel to take away his soul for a few moments.
Finally, Izrail took away the soul of Edris, and at the
same moment Allah restored it, and the remainder of
his days was granted to him (Sur. xix., Sale’s note).

Years later, Edris asked of Izrail that he might see
hell. The Compassionate granted the prayer, and
Edris was shown the seven stages of hell, and the
various punishments of sinners. In like manner, he was
admitted to Paradise, and there remained to this day.

Edris was succeeded by Mathusalem, who called
men to true religion, and converted them from fire-
worship. He had a son Lamech, and Lamech had
Noah, who was a prophet. Between Edris and Noah
there were 1700 years, during which time there was
no prophet (Chron. i. 35 ; cf. Sur. xix.).

The Chronicle here interposes an account of a series
of terrestrial kings, who serve to explain the

^ Bsyour&sp.

origin of inventions. The last of these was
Beyourasp. To him the Prophet Noah was sent.
Beyourasp was an idolater, as the Koran The Prophet
shows (Sur. Ixxi. 20, xxix. 13). The life
of Noah was of a thousand years. He was treated
with scorn and contempt, but behaved with
patience. His wife was unbelieving (Sur.
ixvi. 10). Her children were Sem, Cham,

Japhet, and Canaan. The first three were believers ;
the last, with his mother, infidel.

142

THE RISE OF CHEISTENDOK

Noah, prayed that Allah would destroy the unright-
eous and show mercy to the faithful (Sur. Ixxi. 27-29).
Allah heard the prayer, and bade Noah plant a tecTc,
which takes forty years to grow. At the end of the
time the punishment of the infidels was due.

Noah dwelt at Kufa, and had in his house an oven,
which was said to have belonged to Adam. It was a
sign set by Allah, as we read in the Koran : “ When
“an order shall be come, and the oven shall be in
ebullition ” (Sur. xxiii. 27 ; cf. Hyde and Lord on the
Persian traditions, p. 9 ; Sale on Sur. xi.).

Allah bade Noah uproot the teck and make planks,
and sent Gabriel with an order for the building of the
ark (Sur. xi. 39-42). It was finished in forty days.
Canaan, deaf to the appeal of his father, declared that
he would retire to a mountain. The water rose and
drowned him. The Lord declared that he was no son
of the family.

Eblis entered the ark, holding by the tail of the
ass.

The ark was entered at Kufa ; it went to Mecca,
and turned about the Kaaba. Sometimes turning to
the east, sometimes to the west, it went also to Syria.

„ After six months it rested on Mount Dioudi,

Commemora- . o >

tionof the in Armenia (Sur. xi. 46). Noah had entered
the ark on a day kept as a fast, tenth Eedjeh ;
he came forth on the day Aschoura, the tenth of
Moharrem.

An entertaining account is given of the creation of
the pig and the cat in the ark. They existed not
before the Flood.

Noah remained forty days on Mount Djoudi, and
sent forth a raven, which came not back. Then he sent
the dove, which burned its talons in the bitter waters

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQHE.

143

and lost its feathers. The species is seen to this day,
and they axe dear to the heart of men.

The town which Noah built at the foot of Djoudi,
called Souh-al-themanim, “ Market of the eighty,” re-
minds of the eighty believers who were with him when
he landed.

The history of the eighty and their posterity is
written in all the books sent from heaven, from Adam
to the time of Yezdegherd, son of Schariar, king of
Persia in the time of Omar. They are, among others,
the Book of Ibrahim, the Law of Moses, the Gospel
of Isa, and the Koran of Mohammed.

The deluge was universal, as the Koran teaches
(Sur. liv. 12).

After Noah, all peoples descend from his three sons.
From Sem descend the Arabs, Persians, men gem, oham,
of white complexion, lawyers, sages, and the
best people. For Sem, having seen his father asleep in
an indecent posture, had turned his eyes away
and covered his father; Japhet and Cham
had laughed. When Noah awoke, he cursed
these two ; and thenceforth the men and the fruits of
the land of Cham became black. The Turks, the
Sclaves, and Gog and Magog (Hungarians 1 ), with other
peoples descend from Japhet (Chron. i. 41).

There follows in the Chronicle the story of the King
Dhohak of the race of Cham, who reigned a King
thousand years after the deluge. He was
idolatrous and cruel, and a revolt was raised against
him in Ispahan by a smith, who became governor of
the city, and whose leathern apron became a victorious
standard in war under the next king, Afri- Afridonn.
doun. When his line became extinct, Kousch
of the children of Cham succeeded. After him came

144

THE RISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

Canaan. They were both idolaters. Nemrod followed
Canaan. Canaan ; he had a vizier Azar, son of Nahor,
Nemrod. gQj^ q£ gavug. Now Azat was father of Ibra-
him, the friend of God.^

From the deluge to Ibrahim there were three thou-
sand years. There was no prophet, and the people of
Ad revolted against Allah. He sent to them the Prophet
Houd (Chron. i. 43.)

The Chronicle next relates the legend of Mecca
p phetic concerning the mission of the Prophet Houd
Legends of to the old Arabian tribe of Ad, who were of
theForetime. posterity of Scm. “We have sent to

Ad their brother Houd ” (Sur. vii. 63).

The Adites dwelt in the desert of Hedjaz, and were
The Prophet Superhuman stature and strength, and

Houd. Cyclopian builders (Sur. Ixxxix. 5-7, Ixix. 6).

Eefusing in their pride to listen to the voice of the
prophet, a great and tenible word was sent against
them (Sur. xli. 14). During fifty years he preached
to them in vain (Sur. xi. 57). Then they were
destroyed. The wind lifted them into the air and
dashed them in pieces on the earth (Sur. Ixix. 7,
hv. ^9). The prophet with the few faithful was

saved.

In Hke manner to the Themoudites of the same
The Prophet desert, in the vaUey of Hidjr, their brother
Salih was sent (Sur. xi. 64). He had grown
up among them, but had not shared their idolatry.
When he called them to the service of the one
Creator, they defied him and demanded a miracle in
proof of his mission (Sur. xxvi. 153). And he replied,
in the words of the Koran : “ O my people, this she-

^ He becomes T&rah in the Bible (Gen, xi. 24) or Thara (Luc. iii. 34),
in the Talmud Zarak, and in Eusebius Athar,

THE TRADITIONS OE THE MOSQUE.

145

camel, whicli shall come from God, shall be for you a
miracle” (Sur. xi. 67).

The miracle consisted in his calling forth by means
of prayer a she-camel with red hair, with a little one,
from the groaning rock. They cried out that he was a
magician ; whereupon the camel drank up their spring
of water. It was predicted that a boy with red hair
and blue eyes should destroy the camel, and that calamity
would ensue. At last, after nine boys had been slain
through fear in their infancy, “ the slayer of the she-
camel,” a son of one of the chief men, was preserved.
The deed was done ; and after three days the divine
vengeance fell on the Themoudites (Sur. xi. 69). Salih
and the faithful were saved. Abou Ghalib, one of the
people, was at Mecca at the time, and fixed his abode
there till his death.

The interest of these legends consists in the feel-
ing excited by the view of memorials of a vanished
past, — the broken column, the rock-hewn dwel-
ling, and in the setiologic action of fancy which
suggests dramas of past sin and retribution. The
scenery and the ideas are thoroughly Arabian. The
writers have their eyes fixed on Mecca and the
desert.

Between Salih and Ibrahim there was no prophet.
Nemrod, son of Canaan, succeeded him as The story of
king. He lived in the land of Babylon, on
the site of Bagdad, and was the most wicked and idola-
trous of all kings. His vizier Azar was a
sculptor of idols. His name in the pehlvi
is Thard. He was descended from Noah through Sem,
Arphaxad, Canaan, Sale, Heber, Phalez, Keu, Sarug,
Nachor.

Then follows the legend of the birth of Ibrahim,

146

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

preceded by prophecies of the astrologers concerning
the great Iconoclast. Nemrod caused every

The Birth of ° , , , , , /

the loono- pregnant woman to be watched, and the male
children to be slain.

When the mother of Ibrahim bare him, she hid him
and declared that he was dead. She carried him to a
cave in a mountain, and rolled to a stone. After a few
days she found him living with his finger in his mouth,
miraculously drawing nourishment therefrom. The
boy grew marvellously. One night his mother took
him forth, and gazing at a star, he said, “Is this my
Lord? ” When the star set, he exclaimed, “ I love not
them that set.” In like manner he refused to own
moon or sun for his god (Sur. vi. 76-78).

WTien Azar heard of those things, he loved the boy
greatly; and Ibrahim in his father’s absence over-
threw his idols and spurned them. The scene which
ensued between father and son is reported in the Koran
{Sur. xix. 42).

On a great feast-day, Ibrahim excused himself, per-
haps by a subterfuge, from attendance at the feast, on
the plea that the stars had warned him of an illness
(Sur. xxxvii. 86).

It is said by many that he never lied but on this
occasion and on the occasion when the king of Egypt
took Sara, and Ibrahim said, “ She is my sister.”

In the absence of the priests, he entered the temple
with an axe, and saw meats of all kinds

Iconoclasm. I.ti -r-r- 1 -r-v

placed beiore tne idols. He said, ‘‘Do ye
not eat ? Why do ye not speak ? ” (Sur. xxxvii. 89).
Then he smote them with his axe and cast them to the
ground. On the largest idol he hung his axe and
departed. The priests returning, warned Nemrod of
what had befallen. He went to the temple and said.

THE TEADITIOHS OF THE MOSQUE. 147

“Who has treated our gods in this fashion?” (Sur.
xxi. 60).

They gave him Ibrahim’s name. Brought before
Nemrod, Ibrahim declared that the great idol had
wrought the destruction. Nemrod ordered him to be
burned, but delayed the execution. In the discus-
sion which followed the infidel remained confounded
«

(Sur. ii. 260).

It is deeply impressed on the conscience of Islam
that Ibrahim had interceded for his father because the
latter had conditionally promised to believe.

On the death of Azar, Nemrod ordered Ibrahim to
be cast into a fiery furnace (Sur. xxxvii. 95). Keryinai
During the space of a year, wood was brought i**'"*™-
by mules, camels, and asses. But the camels ever cast
their burden to the earth, and refused to carry it:
wherefore they were blessed by Ibrahim. The mules
and the asses contrariwise were accursed. An immense
pyre was finally constructed by the servants of Nemrod.
Fire was set to it, and the sparks rose to heaven.
Ibrahim was brought in chains ; but none could ap-
proach the pyre. Then Eblis clothed himself in a
splendid robe and came before Nemrod, who knew him
not. He pretended to be an old man who had served
Nemrod for two hundred years, and who was 'wilHng to
show him how to cast “ the magician ” into the flames.

Ebhs then made a balista ; Ibrahim was placed in it
and hurled into the air. But Gabriel was Deyiceof
sent to support him and to inquire what was
his need. Ibrahim resigned himself to Allah : let Him
do with him as he would ! Then Allah called him his
friend, and said to the fire, as we read in the Koran,
“Fire, become cold and healing for Ibrahim!” (Sur.
xxi. 69).

148

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

When he fell into the fire, it separated on this hand
and on that, and gave passage to Ibrahim. A spring
burst forth from the fire, and about the spring was a
gai'den. His chains fell from him by the power of
Allah; and Nemrod, from the height of a tower of
wood which he had built above his palace to view the
fire, saw Ibrahim in the midst, seated on the verdure
by the running spring of water. Some say that an
angel was by his side ; but this was not so ; for Ibrahim
had not sought the help of Gabriel, but had placed all
his confidence in Allah.

Nemrod was amazed, and cried out with a loud voice,
“ Ibrahim ! ” And Ibrahim replied, “ What wilt thou,
0 enemy of AUahl” And Nemrod replied, “Who
has refreshed the fire for thee ? ” And Ibrahim said,
“He who created fire!” Nemrod said, “Ask of thy
God that thou mayest come out of this fire, O Ibrahim,
that I may behold thee ! ” And Ibrahim arose and
passed through the burning fire. Wherever he placed
his foot, the fire became cold and pleasant beneath the
foot of the Friend of God. And Nemrod said, “ Thou
hast a powerful God ; I would show him hospitality.”
Ibrahim replied, “My God needs not thy hospitality.”

The legend goes on to relate how Nemrod made a
vast animal sacrifice in presence of Ibrahim ; but Allah
„ , accepted it not. Nemrod then resolved to

Nemrod wars ^

gainst make war on the God of Ibrahim, and rose

5eaveii> , t . .

into the air in a vulture-borne chest. He
shot three arrows into heaven, which Allah sent back,
soiled with blood, by the hand of Gabriel. Then
Nemrod said, “ I have destroyed the God of Ibrahim,”
and returned to the earth.

The Koran tells how all such artifices of the infidel
shall be vain (Sur. xvi. 28).

THE TEADITIOHS OE THE MOSQHE.

149

Nemrod could do naught against Ibrahim, nor against
Allah. Finally, he besought Ibrahim to depart from
Babylon (Chron. i. 46).

Ibrahim had a brother, Hamn, who had left a son.
Loth. Loth followed the faith of Ibrahim, FUghtof
as it is written in the Koran (Sur. xxiv. 25), ^endo’f*^*
“ Ibrahim said : I will go to my Lord, and He
will direct me ” (Sur. xxxvii. 97).

So Ibrahim and Loth quitted the land of Babylon.
Ibrahim wedded Sara, daughter of Haran, his paternal
uncle. She was of surpassing beauty. There were
believing friends of Ibrahim who, refusing to listen to
the remonstrance of their wives, set out vsdth Ibrahim.
The example was used to instruct those who left their
wives to follow the Prophet from Mecca to Medi n a
(Sur. lx. 4). What nobler calling could there be for the
true Moslem than to act as the friends of Ibrahim had
acted in the foretime 1

Ibrahim came to Haran, in Syria, and there remained
some time. The king of Haran was Noubil, an idolater,
brother of Azar, and uncle of Ibrahim.

Ibrahim departed for Egypt ; but the dwellers in cer-
tain towns of Syria, Al Moutqfikdt, “the convinced of
lies,” begged him to remain with them. Loth and other
followers of Ibrahim did remain. When Ibrahim came
into Egypt, the people were astonished at the
beauty of Sara ; and when the prophet came
before the king of Egypt, he said that Sara was his sister.
This was true ; because, as the Koran saith,“ Believers
are brothers” (Sur. xlix. 10), Though Ibrahim thrice
hed in the course of his life, his lies had truth in them.^

The king of Egypt demanded the hand of Sara;
but she, who had consented to the subterfuge, said,

1 Presumably Ms example justifies subterfuge in certain cases.

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

ISO

“ Let the hand that hath been stretched out to a woman
who belongs to a prophet be withered ! ” His hand
was withered, but at the prayer of Sara was restored.
A second time, as he stretched it forth to her, it was
withered, and again restored. The fourth time he
abstained from touching Sara, and accused her of magic ;
but she replied that she was wife of a prophet of Allah.

Ibrahim meantime was praying in his distress, and
Gabriel was sent to remove the veil between him and
the king of Egypt, so that Ibrahim saw Sara, and heard
her voice and that of the king. When brought before
the king, Sara was sent for and loaded with presents,
and the like were offered to Ibrahim, but he refused
them. The king had four hundred young daughters.

The name of one was Agar, and her rank

Agar. ^

was superior to that of the others. When she
and Sara met, they conceived an affection for one
another. The king gave Agar to Sara, and dismissed
Ibrahim with honour, who departed to Syria, and
Saba (Beer- established himself at Saba, a desert place,
Sheba). Agar. He dug a pit, and

there flowed forth sweet water.

The settlement were reduced to hunger, and
Ibrahim going forth with a sack to find supphes, and
returning empty, a miracle was wrought in his favour.
Some sand which he had placed in the sack was
changed into flour while he slept. There were grains
of corn among the flour; he sowed it, and all his
riches came from that handful of sand turned to flour
by the power of AUah. Ibrahim brought sheep to his
settlement, which gradually became a great town. As
m 4. ITT number of men increased, they became

Chat (Heth). » J

a burden to the prophet, who established
himself in another place, Chat, of the same land.

THE TEADITIONS OF THE MOSQHE.

151

Then the people of Saba began to decrease, and re-
penting, they sought the prophet to bring him back.
He refused to return, but Ibrahim gave them seven
goats, that they might be a blessing for the increase of
the spring at Saba. And Allah blessed the prophet
at Chat v^ith great ■wealth of cattle and slaves. He
showed great hospitality to strangers (Chron. i. 47).

Nemrod continued with his insolent defiances of
Heaven, in spite of the warnings of an angel Death of
sent to him by Allah. He challenged the
King of Heaven to battle, and gathered 100,000 men.
But the angel prophesied that he should be destroyed
by the feeblest of creatures. Then Allah gave orders
to the gnat, least of animals in the divine host, and an
army of them fell on the hands and faces of the accursed
infidels. The wounds inflicted were incurable ; the
horses reared and threw their riders, and the host of
Nemrod was put to flight. A gnat entered by the
nostrils into the brain of Nemrod and devoured his
brain. He could obtain relief only from blows struck
upon bis head. After a life of 1400 years, he died,
and his kingdom passed to Qantari, who reigned a
hundred years. Then the kingdom passed to the
Arameans, and was with them for three hundred years.
Then it passed to the Persians.

Sara being childless, gave Agar to Ibrahim, and she
had a son named Ismail. The rite of cir-
cumcision of women is then traced setio-
logically to the jealousy of Sara against Agar. The
rite was also imposed on all the family of Ibrahim. It
seems that circumcision is regarded in the

Oircumcisioxi.

conscience of the faithful as a punishment for

the sin of Sara (Chron. i. 50). At last Ibrahim took

Ismail and Agar and went forth, not knowing whither.

152

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

And Gabriel appeai'ed to him, and bade him take them
into the sanctuary of God, where was the “visited
house.” The place was desert, without water or grass.
But the prophet put his trust in Allah, and placing a
bottle of water and the food that he had before the
mother and child, committed them to Allah. He then
returned to Sara.

The place where Agar and Ismail were is the site
, of the Kaaba and the well of Zemzem. The

Tne Kaa'ba i.tt t i t

aad Spring chud wept and smote the earth with his heel,

of Zemzem. t , -i i

and there appeared a spring, the spring
which feeds the well of Zemzem. Agar banked it up,
otherwise it would have formed a great river, because
of the blessing on Ismail. The birds of the air
gathered about the spring : it is by the song of birds
that the travellers in the desert know the places of
The Tribe of Water spi’iugs. Men of the tribe of Jorham,
jorham. territory of Mecca, finding their well

dry, wandered in search of water and found the spring.
They proposed to Agar to share it with her, and to
relieve her of solitude, and she consented.

When three years had elapsed, and Ismail was five
Ibrahim old, Ibrahim learned through Gabriel

^uaiiy of the good estate of the boy, and went to

Visits Ismail. . , ^

Visit him, riding on the Borak of the prophet.
When Ismail was grown. Agar died. The men of
Jorham, knowing that the well belonged to Ismail, and
that if he departed, it would be dried, sought to detain
him by giving him in marriage a maiden of their tribe.
This first wife Ismail repudiated, because of the dis-
pleasure of Ibrahim, who yearly visited Ismail. He
took another wife of the tribe of Jorham. Upon her,
who hospitably received the prophet, he bestowed his
blessing ; and the consequence is seen in the abundance

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

153

of meat, of milk, and of dates that obtains at Mecca.
The wife of Ismail did not offer him bread, otherwise
there would be of that also abundance.

In the place near the Kaaha called the “ Station of

Ibrahim ” is still to be seen the print of his ihg station
footstep. Ibrahim.

Is 4 k occupies a subordinate place to Ismail in the
Arabian oracles and legends. The Koran ^
says, “We have announced to Sara Is^k,
and dfter Isak, Yakoub ” ' (Sur. xi. 74).

This was at the time when Ismail at Mecca was five
years old, and when Gabriel and Michael were sent to
destroy the people of Loth. The cities of The Cities of
Loth, called Al MoutaJiTcdt, were Cana,
Maschhouh, Gomorrha, Adama, and Sodom. In each
there were more than one hundred thousand men.
The Koran says these places were on the “straight
road ” (Sur. xv. 76), that is, from the Hedjaz to Syria.

The wife of Loth was infidel, and his children idola-
ters. They were the first to be guilty of un- „ . . ,

. , Ti- T 1 • • r. Origin of

natural sin, as the Koran declares (Sur. vii. 78, Unnatarai

xxix. 28). Loth prophetically warned them,

and was mocked at and despised (Sur. xxvi. 160 seq.).

He prayed and asked help of God. Then came
Gabriel, Michael, and Israfil in the guise of
beautiful young men to Ibrahim, who said, ^gei^to
“We have received guests who are like to
angels.” He brought them a roasted calf (Sur. xi. 72).
But being angels, they needed not to eat.

A sacred custom is explained from this occasion, that
of saying Bismillah, “ In the name of God ! ” Meaicaa-
at the beginning, and “ Praise to God ! ” at
the end of a repast. Thus the price of the food which
1 Of. Sale's note on tlie laughter (1) of Sara.

154

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

belongs to Him is paid. Gabriel said, “Kightly is
Ibrahim called the Friend of God ! ”

Ibrahim feared, because his guests refused to par-
take, but Sara “ laughed,” as the Koran says. Then the
angels made themselves known as the apostles of Allah,
sent to destroy the people of Loth, and to announce
the birth of Isl,k, who should have a son, Yakoub, the
father of a great posterity. Sara, being aged, was
astonished at this word, as the Koran relates (Sur.
xi. 75, li. 29).

But the angels bade them not to despair of the mercy
of the Lord (Sur. xv. 56).

Then Ibrahim was troubled concerning Loth, and
the angels promised his deliverance and that of his
house, save the unbelieving wife (Sur. xxix. 31, li. 35).

The legend proceeds to relate how the angels came
to Sodom, and how the wicked were punished.

Destruction t

of the Cities Gabriel, standing at the edge of At Mouta-
fikM, passed his wing over the soil, detached
the towns by the divine power, and raising them into
the air, turned them upside down. A black water
came forth from the site (Sur. xi. 84).

The wife of Loth looked back, and one of the stones
of the ruined cities fell on her head and slew her.
Loth went and settled in the land of Ibrahim.

Ibrahim had promised in the days when they desired
Thosaorifioe ^ child, that if it were a male, he would
of Ismail, sacrifice it to the Lord. He had forgotten
his vow ; and AUah, to honour him, reminded him of it
in a dream.

There are arguments in the Koran in favour of the
sacrifice of Is^k ; others in favour of that of Ismail ; ^
but the latter are decisive (Chron. i. 53).

1 The dispute seems to represent rival traditions of Mecca and Hebron.

THE TEADITIOHS OF THE MOSQUE.

155

When Ibrahim came to the mountain, the scene of
this new trial, the angels wept, and the mountain
groaned and trembled. Eblis also was afflicted, and
sought to tempt Agar, and also Ismail, from their sub-
mission to the command of Allah ; but he was faith-
fully resisted.

Weeping, the father prepared to immolate his son,
but the blade of the knife was miraculously turned.
Ismail besought him to make a fresh attempt, but at
that moment Gabriel was sent from heaven with a
ram, white, with black eyes and long horns. A voice
was heard, “ O Ibrahim, now thou hast accomplished
thy vision ” (Sur. xxxvii. 105).

Ibrahim trembled, let fall the knife, and cried out,
“ Allah is great ! ” Gabriel repeated the words. And
when they saw the angel they cried again, “ There is
no God but Allah ! Praise to Allah ! "

Thus the origin of the Tekhir, or prayers recited
on the feast of sacrifices, is traced to
the authorship of Gabriel, the Spirit of Sacrfficiai
God, of Ibrahim, the Friend of God,
and of Ismail, the Victim of God. And Allah
granted to Ismail that for his sake the sins of the
faithful who should appear before him might be for-
given.

The place of the i m molation is Mount Mina, where
the stones are cast and the victims are sacri- ,, ^

» - TP 1 • Mount Mina.

ficed. For the ram escaped irom Ibrahim,
who cast seven stones at it. Finally it was sacrificed.
In the Koran Allah saith, “Thus will we reward
them who do well ” (Sur. xxxvii. no). The example
of the Friend of God is that of a greatness the
tradition of which shall be preserved till the day of
judgment.

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

156

Some say that the ram was the same with that
sacrificed by El Khfi,lil ; that Allah had kept
EiKhaw. Paradise to feed there till the hour of

Ismail’s immolation.^

In the time of Noah and the deluge, the “ visited
^ ^ ^ house,” the object of Adam’s yearly pilgrim-
age, had been raised to heaven. The site
was vacant when Allah said to Ibrahim, “Arise, go
to Mecca, and build a house on the place where was
the visited house” (Sur. xxii. 27 ; Chron. i. 54).

Ibrahim went to find Ismail, and they prepared to
obey the divine command. But since they were
ignorant of building, Allah sent a cloud of the size
of the Kaaba, that the building might fill the space
described by its shadow. The Koran says, “When
Ibrahim and Ismail raised the foundation of the house,
they said. Lord, receive from us this house, for Thou
art He that heareth and knoweth” (Sur. ii. 121).

Then they prayed that the holy ceremonies of pil-
grimage might be made known to them.
Cer emon ies And in the time of Mohammed, he is said to
have declared himself the object of another
prayer of Ibrahim, “ Send a prophet from among my
descendants, that he may recite Thy verses to his
brethren, that he may cause them to know Thy book
and Thy wisdom ; and purge them, O Lord, from their
sins ” (cf. Sur. iii. 158 ; Chron. xii. 54).

And Gabriel was sent to Ibrahim to teach him the
rites of pilgrimage and the visitation of Mount Mina
and Mount Arafat, the processions around the Kaaba,
the casting of stones, the assumption of the pilgrim
habit, the offering of sacrifice, the shaving of the head,
and all that concerns the pilgrimage.

1 Vide Sale’s notes on Sur. xxxvii. loS sea.

THE TKAEITIONS OF THE MOSQHE.

IS7

Then Ibrahim confided the temple of Mecca to
Ismail and to his children, that it miffht be

^ Ismail in

theirs until the day of judgment. Standing Charge of
on Mount Thabir, he turned his gaze now
on Syria the fertile, now on Mecca the desert. In
answer to his prayers, Mecca, though desert, became
abundantly supplied from Egypt, Yemen, and Maghreb.

The voice of the prophet was heard by all creation,
calling men to make pilgrimage to the house which
God had built for them. And they who were pre-
destined to bliss replied, “ We are ready to obey, O
Allah ! There is none but Thee ! We are ready to
obey ! ” And faithful pilgrims now and until the
day of judgment are of them who obey the voice of
Ibrahim.

After these things Ibrahim returned into Syria to Sara.
Yearly he continued to make the pilgrimage to Mecca.

When Is^k was grown up, Sara had another son,
named Yakoub, as the Koran saith (Sur. Birth of
vi. 84). Is 4 k also had two sons, Esau and
Yakoub. They were twins. At the moment that
Esau was born, Yakoub seized him by the Esau and
heel. Hence his name,^ vakoub.

Yakoub and his posterity were prophets ; but no son
of Esau was a prophet, except Job (Ayyoub).

Is^k became blind during the lifetime of Sara.
Sara died at the age of 130 years, and was buried in
the land of Canaan.

Ibrahim then wedded Keturah, daughter of Joktan.
She was also of the land of Canaan. They Keturah and
had six sons — Zamram, Jeksan, Madan,

Madian, Jesbok, Su6.^

1 Al-aqib— the heel,
® Of. Gen. XXV. ii.

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

158

The Koran saith, “ Eecall when Ibrahim said :
Ibrahim and Loi'd, caiise me to see how Thou wilt raise
tton thf®’ <^ead ” (Sur. ii. 262).

Dead. n -^as the last year of his life, when he was

199 years old, and was returning from Mecca. And Allah
said, “ Take fom* different birds, slay them, cut them in
pieces, mingle them, and place on the mountains a
piece of each bird. Then call, and they shall come
swiftly to thee.” Ibrahim took four birds — a heron,
an eagle, a hawk, and a vulture. The pieces of the
fslaiT) birds were placed on four mountains. There
arose a wind which carried the pieces from one moun-
tain to the other, so that all that belonged to one
bird were reunited. Then he called the birds, and
all four swiftly flew to Ibrahim. Then AUah said,
“ So will I do at the day of judgment ” (Chxon.

i- 58).

The legends tell how the beard of Ibrahim becom-
ing white, it was revealed to him that it was
a sign of intelligence and gentleness. The
Angel of Death was sent to take his soul by his own
consent, and appeared to him in the form of a very
debile old man of 202 years. And Ibrahim learning
that his debility would be like that of his visitor should
he live to his age, resigned his life, and the angel bore
away his soul. Is^k washed him and placed him by
Sara in Syria.

After the death of Ibrahim, Is^k buried him, then
Deatt of visited Ismail at Mecca. Ismail paid a yearly
visit to the tomb of his father. Ismail was
an apostle and prophet, and preached to the idolaters
of Hadramaut and Egypt. His daughter Basemath
he gave in marriage to Esau. He died at Mecca,
appointing Is^k his executor, and he was buried

THE TEADITIOHS OF THE MOSQUE.

1S9

by the side of Agar. His posterity were dispersed,
but his two sons Nabit and Kedar dwelt at uawt and
Mecca.

The dwellers in the Hedjaz, in the desert, and the
Arabs are all children of Ibrahim and of Ismail.

These legends form a network connecting the sacred
places of the Mohammedans in Arabia with those in
Syria. From the standpoint of the old mosque at
Hebron, which takes its name from the “Friend of
AUah,” and from that of the mosque at Mecca, the
genesis of the sacred poetry can without difficulty be
understood. To call in the Bible at this point is but
to confuse the narrative.

This legend is designed to explain the enmity that
was felt to be a standing one between the ^ , ,

Legend of

peoples of whom the twins axe symbolic. ®s^^aud
Blind Is^k prays that the gift of prophecy
may fall on Yakoub, who has set before him by a
ruse a dish of roast-lamb. Yakoub feared the ven-
geance of his brother, yet prayed for him, and his
posterity became numerous.

The Chronicle explains that by the race of Esau is
meant “ the Greeks,” and that Bourn was a Eomans and
son of Esau, whose children gained posses-
sion of the land of the Greeks. In other words, the
Arabians mean, by the sons of Esau, the inhabitants of
the Boman Empire. The Jewish chronicles designate
the same by Edom.

• Yakoub is made to flee by night from Esau to his
uncle Laban in Syria. His name, Israel, re- Yakoub=
ceives an Arabic etymology — asm ih, Allah,

“ he went by night to God.” In Syria he served Laban,
and received Lia and Bachel as his wives. At that
time, and until the law of Musa, it was lawful for a

THE EISE OE CHEISTEHDOM.

i6o

man to wed two sisters, but in tbe Koran this is
forbidden (Sur. iv. 27).

He had by Lia Kuben, Simeon, Judah, Leyi, Zabulon,
and Issachar. By Zelpha, handmaid of Rachel, he
had Dan and Nephtali. By Bala, handmaid of Lia,
he had Gad and Esau. By Rachel he had Joseph.

Then he desired greatly to return to the land of
Return of Canaan, and Esau desired to see him. When
Takoub. brothers met, Esau wept for joy and

exclaimed, “ Yakoub is not the servant of Esau, but his
beloved brother.” For Yakoub had said in Syria, “ I
am the servant of Esau.”

After a year Benjamin was born. Then Yakoub as
a prophet calls men in the land of Canaan to
Benjamin, Esau I'esigus the land to him and bids

him an amicable farewell.

It is again said that Esau took with him his son
The Land of Roum and Went to the land called Roum, and
Bourn. g^jji Greeks derive from him.

The method of the Arabian historic mythology is
essentially the same with that of the old Greek tribal
mythology. Twins who quarrel are symbolic of rival
tribes or peoples. The rivalry of the Roman and the
Arabian empire is expressed. The religious empire of
the prophetic Yakoub is destined to supplant that of
the unprophetic Esau. The domination of the Romans
in the land of Canaan is represented symbolically by
the wedding of Esau to a daughter of the prophet of
Mecca, The flight of Yakoub in poverty and fear, his
return in wealth, is analogous to the double wander-
ings in Greek legends. The tendency is to show that
Yakoub, as representative of the orthodox belief, “ came
back to his own,” and was admitted to be in his rights
there by the “ elder brothers.” So often in myths of

THE TEADITIOHS OF THE MOSQUE.

conquest a certain conscience makes itself felt, and a
pretext of justice is cast over deeds of violence.

The chronicler says that there is no story more
marvellous or more 'instructive than that of
Yussuf; none concerning which the Koran ofTussuf
has a greater number of verses. (Joseph).

The legend is in substance that of the Bible, yet
with ampler details. The eleven brothers plot against
the favourite son of Yakoub. Yahud interposes to save
him. The chronicler speaks of the pit into which
Yussuf was cast as existing to his day. The extrac-
tion of the prophet from the pit by the leaders of a
caravan on its way from Arabia to Egypt is dramatically
told. He was sold for twenty dirhems of nominal
value.

There was at the time an Amalekite king of Egypt,
a Semite called Rayyan. His treasurer was the grandee
of Egypt, Putiphar, son of Amir. He was impotent,
and his wife was the greatest beauty in Egypt. Yussuf in
She tempted Yussuf, but he saw a sign from
Allah. He had a vision of Yakoub entering from the
wall of the room, biting his finger and saying, “ O
Yussuf, alas ! alas ! ” And he fled from her.

Further details of his trials and of his imprisonment
follow. He interprets the dreams of the king of Egypt,
is made intendant of the granaries, and on the death
of the grandee, weds his widow, Zulaikha, who excuses
her past conduct, and who is proved to be no adulteress,
and by whom he has the sons Ephraim and uphraim and
Manasseh. He becomes vizier. Manasseh.

Then follows the story of the reconciliation of Yussuf
with his family, and the arrival of Yakoub in his house
in Egypt. Yussuf as| prophet calls the king of Egypt
to Allah, and he believes. The brethren wed wives in

i 62

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

Egypt, and the number of the family increases from
seventy to 1,700,000 souls at the date of the Exodus.

Yussuf chooses Yehud for his executor, who places
his body in a marble coffin and casts it into the Nile.
When Moses went out from Egypt, he carried the coffin
to the burial-place of Ibrahim, Is^h, and Yakoub in
Syria.

The children of Yakoub (or Israel) have been placed
in Paradise by Allah. Their comprehensive designa-
tion of the chosen people is “Ibrahim, Ismail, Is^k,
Yakoub, and the tribes” (Chron. i. 65).

Then follows the story of Job the patient. He is
joia(Ayoub) grandson of Esau, and the only prophet of
the Patient. Esau’s stock. He is located in Basan, a tract
between Damascus and Bamla. His village is called
Qarya-Ayyoub, and the spring near it Ain-Ayyoub.
The trials of Job and his wife Eahma, due to the enmity
of Eblis, are similar to those related in the Old Testa-
ment, but there are great variations.

One of Job’s sons was Bischr, called Dsoul Kefl.
Allah speaks of him in the Koran : “ Ismail, and Edris,
and Dsoul Kefl, they were all patient ” (Sur. xxi. 85).

Schoaib descended from Ibrahim byMadian, eponymus
The Prophet 0^ Madiau in Syria. He called the unbeliev-
Sohoaib. people to AUah, and their disobedience

was punished by a great heat and fire sent down from
a cloud, while Gabriel sent forth a terrifying cry.

The Chronicle, in its attempt at a retrospection of the
King Minot- P^st, peverts to the kings of Persia, who
sobehr. dwelt iu the land of Babylon, in the province
of Ir^k. The jArabs and the dwellers in Maghreb were
never entirely subject to those kings, with the excep-
tion of Minotschehr. He was a just king, and reigned
for 1 20 years. In his time Moses appeared.

THE TEADITIOIyS OF THE MOSQUE. 163

Walid, the most unjust of all the kings of Egypt,
was on the throne when Musa was born. He Predicted
represented himself as God, and called upon
men to adore him (Sur. Ixxix. 23, xxviii.

38) ; but Asija, his wife, followed the religion of
Yussuf and of Israel.

The Pharaoun saw in vision a fire coming from
Syria to Egypt to destroy the Copts and their houses.
The astrologers warned him that an Israelite child
would be born to destroy the Egyptians. Precautions
were taken to slay the male children (Sur. xiv. 6).
Then there was the respite of a year.

Imram was of the family of Levi, son of Yakoub.
His father was Isaar, and his grandfather The Family
Kaath. During the year of respite his wife
gave birth to Harun, and in the next year to Musa.
Allah inspired her to cast him into the river, Harun and
as we read in the Koran : “If thou fearest
aught for him, cast him into the river, without fear and
without affliction, for we will restore him, and appoint
him one of our apostles ” (Sur. xxviii. 6).

Properly speaking, this was an inspiration rather than
a revelation, for she was no prophetess {cf. Sur. xvi. 70).

The coffer which she made for the chUd was an
inspiration from God (Sur. xx. 38).

The maker was one Harbil, the only behever among
all the Copts. He is praised in the Koran (Sur. xl.
29). Musa had a sister. The mother bade her follow
the child (Sur. xxviii. 10).

The coffer was carried to the palace of the Pharaoun
at Memphis, and left among the trees. The slaves
drew it forth, but dared not open it. They carried it
to Asija, who also dared not open it. Finally, it was
opened in the presence of Pharaoun, who proposed to

164

THE EISE OF CHEISTEHDOM.

slay the child; but it was spared at the intercession
of Asija (Sur. xxviii. 7).

The child was called Musa, signifying water and tree,
because he had been found amidst the water and the
trees.

The sister introduces the mother as nurse, and the
child is taken home. Each week it is carried to Asija.
One day Asija placed the child, who was then five years
old, on the knee of Pharaoun, and said, “It is thy
child.” The king replied, “It is thine.” But when
the child plucked at his beard, Pharaoun took his hand
and said, “This is the child of the Israelites that I
seek, and I will slay him.” But Asija said, “ I will
prove the child and see whether he acts with discretion.”
She placed him between two basins, the one filled with
fire, the other with rubies. The child turned to the
basin of rubies, but Allah ordered Gabriel to carry the
hand of Musa to the fire. The child took up a glowing
coal, placed it in his mouth, and burned his tongue. So
was his ignorance proved and his life saved.

A knot was found at the end of his tongue, so that
he could not pronounce the letter Siu. When he
became man and prophet, he prayed to Allah, “ Loosen
the knot of my tongue, that my words may be heard ”
(Sur. XX. 28-29).

At the age of ten he rode to and fro in Memphis
between his mother’s house and the palace, attended
by a great train of servants. He was called Son of
Pharaoun, and was beloved by the king, who had bim
at his side when he rode forth. Musa was endowed
with great wisdom. At thirty years of age he received
a wife from Pharaoun, and there was rejoicing in
Memphis as at the wedding of a king. He had two
sons, Gersam and Eliezer.

THE TEADITIOHS OF THE IMOSQUE. 165

The chronicler, at home in Memphis and the adjacent
towns, each of which has its mosque, proceeds night of
to tell how the time came when Musa should
deliver his oppressed brethren. He came to Sohodb.
Heliopolis seeking Pharaoun, who had gone thither.
At noon he saw an Israelite and an Egyptian in com-
bat, and when the Israelite cried to him for help, Musa
slew the Egyptian. Then he felt remorse, though the
man was an infidel ; for he had not yet found the gift
of prophecy, and had not yet been commanded to slay
the infidel. But He who pardons, the Merciful, forgave
him (Sur. xxviii. 14).

And Musa vowed that he would no more bring help
to the infidel ; for the Israelite he had succoured was
an infidel.

Next day Musa met the same Israelite, who was
assailed by another Egyptian. Musa upbraided the
Israelite, who gave information to Pharaoun against
him. Finally, Moses fled to Madian, the city nearest
to Memphis in the direction of Syria. Allah sent an
angel to show him the road. Barefooted he walked
eight days and eight nights, till the skin of his soles
fell from them.

Schoaib, prophet of the faithful surviving Midianites,
was a great shepherd. He had two daughters, Sephora
and Abra, the former fair, the latter dark, and both
beautiful. These young shepherdesses sought a hire-
ling shepherd.

It is said in the Koran, “ When Musa came to the
well of Madian, he found about the well a multitude
who were giving their flocks to drink. And he found
two women who kept their sheep far from the water ”
(Sur. xxviii. 22).

Now this well was closed by a stone which only forty

i66

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

men could lift. And the daughters of the old and
blind prophet of God could not approach the well until
the men had withdrawn. Then Musa himself advanced,
removed the stone and the seal, and gave the sheep of
the daughters of Schoaib to drink. Then he seated
himself in the shadow of a tree, and hungered. And
when the daughters of Schoaib told their father, he
bade them call the man. When Musa came and
related the story of his flight, the heart of the pro-
phet was fastened on him, and he offered him one
of his two daughters, on condition that he would
serve as hireling for the space of eight years or for
ten years.

At the end of ten years Musa came before Schoaib,
and Sephora was given to him. After a time Musa
desired to visit his family in Egypt, but he remained
another year until the sheep should have lambed.
Then each sheep had twice he-lambs. They were given
to Musa. He remained another year at the request of
Schoaib, and in like manner each sheep had twice
she-lambs. They were given to Musa, who thus had
flocks greater than those of Schoaib.

Now an angel had left with Schoaib a shepherd’s
staff which was forked. Schoaib knew not that it was
an angel, for he had the form of a man. This staff
proved to be the rod by which Allah desired to work
miracles to prove the prophetic mission of Musa. So
when Schoaib bade him choose a staff to support him
on the way, Musa found again and again this staff
coming to his hand. Finally, Schoaib gave him the
staff. Afterwards he repented, and ran after Musa,
and demanded it back. Musa refused, and while they
parleyed, there came by an angel in the form of a man ;
to him they referred their difference. The angel said.

THE TEADITIOjSTS OE THE MOSQUE.

167

“ Cast the rod to the ground, and it shall be his who
can lift it from the ground.” Musa alone was able to
lift it.

The Koran saith, “When Musa had reached the
term agreed on, and was gone forth with his

T 1 n Prophetic

nouse, he saw nre on the side 01 Mount Sinai Mission of

/n ... \ Musa.

(Sur. xxviii. 29).

And again : “ Hath the story of Musa come to thee 1
When he saw fire, and said to his family, Wait here,
for I have seen fire? ” (Sur. xx. 8).

This was when he had travelled five days from the
land of Schoaib, and was near Mount Sinai, and a great
darkness had fallen over the land. He took his rod
and went on. Presently he saw fire at the top of a
tree. It was the thorny tree called aousadje, the first
tree that came forth from the earth.

Musa was seized with fear and would have returned ;
but, as Allah saith in the Koran, “A voice cried to
him from the right side of the valley in the blessed
place, above the tree : Musa, surely I am Allah, Lord
of creatures ” (Sur. xxviii. 30).

Musa prostrated himself; and Allah graciously said
to him, “Surely I am thy Lord; take off TheHoiy
thy shoes, for thou art in the holy valley of
Towa” (Sur. xx, 12).

In this place the Lord taught Musa all parts of the
system of the Unity of God, and caused him The Divine
to know the law. Allah spake three words
to Musa by which His Unity is explained : —

“ Surely I am Allah ; there is no other god but me ”
(Sur. XX. 14).

“Surely I am thy Lord” (Sur. xx. 12).

“Surely I am Allah, Lord of creatures” (Sur.
xxviii. 30).

i68

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

To Musa also He said, “ Serve me and make prayer
The Precept Commemoration of me” (Sur. xx. 14).
of Prayer, precept o£ prayer is placed before all

other precepts of the law and of worship.

And again, with reference to the Eesurrection Allah
TheEeaur- Said, “ Surely the hour of judgment shall
reotion. come ; I will surely manifest the same, that
to each soul may be rendered according to its deeds ”
(Sur, XX. 15).

Then Allah conferred on Musa the gift of prophecy
and sent him to Pharaoun (Sur. xxvi. 9).

He caused him to see the miracle which confirmed
The Sign of missiou, saying, “ What is that thou dost
theEod. thy right hand, Musa?” (Sur. xx. 18).

The change of the rod into the serpent was effected
before Musa went to Pharaoun, that he might not fear,
but might be accustomed to the sight, and be perfect
in all things.

And then the Lord said, “Put thy hand in thy
bosom ; it shall come forth white without any harm ”
(Sur. xxviii. 32).

Then Musa prayed for the loosing of his tongue, and
that Harun, his brother, might be given him as coun-
sellor (Sur. XX. 26 seq.).

His prayer was heard ; and how great is the word
which Allah addressed to His servant, “ I have chosen
thee for myself” (Sur. xx. 43).

So Musa came from the place where he held con-
verse with Allah, loaded with favours, endued with
the gift of prophecy, with the knowledge of the law ;
and Allah called the place the Blessed Valley (Sur.
xxviii. 30).

So Musa returned to his wife, not with fire, but with
the light, the most brilliant that is.

THE TEADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

169

A writer in the Chronicle expatiates on the number
of moralities there are to be found in this interview of
Musa with Allah. He well observes that in the Koran
the story is even as the tree, and the morality is the
fruit. When you sit beneath the shade of a tree, you
should also enjoy its fruit.

Passing over many interesting details in the Chronicle,
Musa appeared before Pharaoun, and declared Maaa before
himself the apostle of the Lord, the Creator of
heaven and earth. Pharaoun mocked, and said to his
courtiers, “ God has sent you an apostle who is mad ! ”

Musa cast his rod to the ground, which became a
great serpent. It opened its mouth, placed its lower
jaw on the throne of Pharaoun, and would place its
upper jaw on the roof of the palace, so as to carry it
bodily away. The monarch cried out with fear. Musa
seized the serpent by the neck, which again became
a rod. The second sign of the whitened hand then
appeared (Sur. xxvi. 32).

The noise of these things spread through Egypt,
and all the Israelites believed in Musa. The magi-
cians, on the other hand, were sent for, and gathered
together, it is said, to the number of 15,000. The
most skilled, seventy in number, were selected. Of
these, the four chief were Schllboun, G^boun, H&tit,
and Mosfa. On a great feast-day the trial of skill
took place. The magicians had an apparatus of sticks
and cords, by which they contrived to represent ser-
pents raising themselves as if to attack the company,
and the eyes of the spectators were fascinated, and
they were afraid (Sur. vii. 113).

But when Musa cast his rod, it became a serpent
greater than the others, struck the earth with its tail,
rolled the end of its tail about the dais of Pharaoun,

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

170

and then swallowed up all the other serpents. The
The Magi- magicians saw that the miracle was from
BeiieTera‘’Sd they believed in him. Pharaoun,

Martyrs. believing them to be in complicity with Musa,
ordered their hands and feet to be cut off, and then their
crucifixion. They died as willing martyrs for the true
faith. Movingly the chronicler says : “In the morn-
ing they were magicians, enemies of Allah ; in the
evening they were martyrs and in Paradise.” Pharaoun
departed, wretched and despised, as we read in the
Koran (Sur. vii. irb).

Musa remained twenty years with the Egyptians,
calling them to Allah and working miracles, but
Pharaoun hardened himself in his belief. At last he
declared, “T will ascend myself to heaven, and see the
God of Musa.” Then he bade Haman make a great
tower of chalk and bricks. It required two years for
its construction. It is said that Pharaoun was the
first to make bricks. Having ascended the tower, and
neither seen nor heard anything, Pharaoun came down
and said, “ Musa, surely I hold that he is of the num-
ber of liars ” (Sur. xxviii. 38).

Allah saith in the Koran, “ Surely we have given to
TXeNine Musa nine evident signs” (Sur. xvii. 103).
Signs. gg wrought a miracle each year, and Pharaoun
besought him, “ If thou wilt take away this chastise-
ment, we will believe.” But when the chastisement
was removed, they broke their word.

The nine signs formed a climax, each being greater
than the preceding (Sur. xliii. 47). They were : —

1. The rod changed into a serpent.

2. The hand of Moses become white and brilliant.

3. The famine (Sur. vii. 127).

4. The deluge.

THE TEADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

171

5. The locusts.

6. The Qourmals (lice).

7. The frogs.

8. The water changed into blood.

9. The putrifaction of all that belonged to the
Egyptians.

The contest between Musa and Pharaoun lasted for
two years. Now Pharaoun, though he had destroyed
the idols and ascribed divinity to himself alone, never-
theless revered the bull. He prostrated himself and
adored the sacred animal, and abstained from its
flesh. Finally, the time that Allah had fixed for his
destruction arrived, and the word came to Musa,
“ March with my servants during the night, for ye will
be pursued” (Sur. xliv. 22, xxvi. 52).

When all things were ready for the exodus, the
elders of the children of Israel reminded j, ^
Musa of the testament of Yussuf (Joseph),
bidding them open his tomb and carry his remains
with them to Syria, to repose by Ibrahim, Is^k, and
Yakoub. But the tomb of Yussuf was un- The Tomb
known. After inquiry, an old Egyptian
woman, a believer, named Mariam, daughter of
N^mousi, was found, who promised to show the tomb
of Yussuf on condition that she should be taken with
the Israelites, and that Musa would ask of Allah Para-
dise on her behalf. Then she said, “The tomb of
Yussuf is in the midst of the river Nile, which passes
in the midst of the city of Memphis, in such and such a
spot.” At the prayer of Musa, the water retired, and
the coffin of Yussuf was found. It wEis of marble
and without joints.

There follows an account of the borrowing of the
ornaments of the Egyptians, in accordance with the

172

THE RISE OF CHEISTEHDOM.

command of Musa. The Israelites were bidden to
gather together at a spot outside the city. Each was
Th s crifiee Sacrifice with his house a sheep, a lamb,
at the or a fowl. When they went forth, they were
to dip their hands in the blood, and to smear
the doors of the houses, that their friends might know
they were gone forth.

At midnight the host assembled, to the number of
620,000 horsemen, besides footmen, women, children,
and old men. Harun was placed with the advance
guards, and was ordered to march to the sea, where
Gabriel had promised to join Musa and the army.
Troop by troop and tribe by tribe the host followed,
Musa being with the rear-guard. It was the ninth
night of the month Moharrem, the night of Sunday.
In the morning the Egyptians found that the Israelites
had departed, but in each house a lamp burned ;
and there was not an Egyptian house in which there
was not a corpse of young or of old.

The next day was the day called Aschoura, the tenth
The Day of Moharrem. Pharaoun gathered his army,
Aachouia. placed with the van-guard Haman with
2,000,000 foot-soldiers ; himself occupied the centre
with 5,000,000 horsemen. At daybreak they set out
(Sur. xxvi. 60).

When the Israelites were overtaken, Allah inspired
Musa to strike the sea with his rod, and the waters
divided and stood as mountains. The Israelite tribes
which descended from the sons of Yakouh entered the
sea by twelve different routes (Sur. xxvi. 63). The
black mud art the bottom of the sea became at the
prayer of Musa dry like sand.

As Musa stood at the brink of the sea, Gabriel,
Michael, and the angels arrived and said, “ O Musa,

THE TEAHITIOHS OF THE MOSQUE.

173

pass the sea ! for Allah hath ordered us to tarry here
till Pharaoun shall have entered the sea with all his
host.” And Musa urged his horse into the sea, crying,
“ In the name of Allah, the merciful and compassion-
ate ! ” and all the children of Israel followed him.
Between each of the twelve roads there were walls of
water, so that the several tribes could not see each
other. At the prayer of Musa these watery walls
opened in the form of an arcade, so that the Israelites
could see from one end to the other, till the passage
had been made.

Pharaoun, beholding these things, was terrified, but
Haman persuaded him that as Musa had passed by
means of magic, so he could pass by means of his
divinity. And when he with aU his host were in the
midst of the sea, Musa from the other bank would have
smitten the sea with his rod, but was detained by a
word from Allah (Sur. xliv. 23).

When Pharaoun came to the opposite bank, he
urged his horse ashore, but Gabriel stretched peath of
forth his hand, struck Pharaoun on the face,
and cast him into the sea. And Allah ordered the sea
to sink upon the host, and drown them. Pharaoun
cried from the midst of the waters, “ I believe in the
same God with the children of Israel; there is no
God but He ; I am of the resigned. I believe in the
word of Musa” (Sur. x. 90). And Gabriel answered,
“ Now thou dost believe, but before thou wert a rebel,
and thou hast been of the number of the wicked.”
And fearing lest Allah in His mercy should pardon
Pharaoun, he passed his wing over the bottom of the
sea, raised some of the earth and cast it into the mouth
of Pharaoun, who was drowned.

It is said that Gabriel recognised two great enemies on

174

THE KISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

the earth ; Eblis, who refused to adore Adam, the vicar
of Allah, and Pharaoun, who declared, “ I am God.”

The day of Aschoura was kept as a fast. The next
day the brother of Pharaoun and his host were carried
to be cast up from the sea for a sign (Sur. x. 92).

The sea remained agitated for ten days ; nor will it
be appeased on that spot until the day of the Eesur-
rection. The place is called Bab-al-T 4 gath, “ Gate of
the cupola.”

But the Israelites yearned after a god that they
might see and adore, like the Amalekites and the
Copts, who had idols with the form of a bull’s head
(Sur. vii. 134).

Now there was among them a man called Simeri,

s& rt name was Musa, son of Dzafar.

He was of the people of Akhberi, a village of
the land of Ir^k, who were idolaters. According to
another and better accepted version, SHmeri was an
Israelite and a descendant of Levi, son of Yakoub,
who had been exposed at the time of the slaughter
of the male children, and had been preserved through
Gabriel’s ministry (Chron. i. 74).

It had been promised to Musa that Allah would
m,. ^ , speak to him on Mount Sinai and give hiin

The Revela- ^ -r tt ^ i i ^

Kou^t Sinai He Sent Gabriel to him and called

‘ him to the revelation in Sinai. The Law
was sent entire and at once, not like the Koran, in
pieces, each day a Surah and each moment a letter.

On Sinai Musa was to fast for thirty days that his
stomach and his mouth might become pure for the
reception of the words of AUah. And Musa said
to Harun his brother, “ Eeplace me with my people ;
do justice, and follow not the path of the wicked”
(Sur. vii. 138),

THE TRADITIONS OE THE MOSQUE.

175

The children of Israel desired that the chiefs and
the elders of them should go with Musa, to witness
that the words were indeed the words of Allah. Musa
consented, and they chose out seventy (Sur. vii. 154).
The day of revelation was the loth of the month
DsouThidje ; and the time between the death of
Pharaoun and the revelation was eleven months.
During the month Dsoul-quade, Musa fasted with
the seventy, and then came Gabriel with an order for
the prolongation of the fast for ten days of Dsoul-
'hidje : altogether forty days.

At the end of the thirty days the children of Israel
gathered to Harun and murmured against Musa. Then
Simeri saw that the moment to destroy them had come.
He hinted to Harun that perchance Musa was wroth
with them because they had taken the gold and the
silver of Pharaoun and the Copts, which was forbidden.
Then Harun told these things to the children of Israel,
and bade them gather the booty that it might be covered
with dust till Musa should return.

But Simeri said, “ This shall serve you naught ;
Musa will not return until ye have burned all this.”
Now S§,meri had recognised Gabriel at the time he
came to call Musa to the revelation. And where Gabriel
placed his foot, S^meri raised of the earth trodden by
him. He now made a calf of the gold and ite Goi^en
placed some of the earth in its body. The
calf began to low ; they say it had become flesh and
bone, that it walked and ate of grass. Then the chil-
dren of Israel said, “ This is our God and the God of
Musa ; but Musa hath abandoned him ” (Sur. xx. 90).

Then they worshipped the calf. It is said in the
Commentaries that but 12,000 abstained. On the
fortieth day, when Musa ascended the summit of the

176 THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

mountain to be in tbe presence of Allah, the Lord said
to him, “ I have proved thy people after thy departure,
and S 4 meri hath led them astray ” (Sur. xx. 85-87).

At the moment of revelation, as Allah conversed with
The Revela- Musa, a white cloud rested on the head of
the prophet, so that he was invisible to the
seventy. Musa was in the presence of Allah, who con-
versed with him, though by means of no bodily organ.
He gave him the Law written on tables, as He saith in
the Koran, “ We have written for him on the tables
concerning everything” (Sur. vii. 142).

When the revelation was ended, Musa prayed that
he might behold the Lord. But Allah replied, “ Thou
canst not see me. Look at this mountain ; if it remains
in its place, thou shalt see me.” The mountain was
reduced to dust, and Musa fell fainting. On recover-
ing he said, “ Glory to Thee ; I bring Thee my repent-
ance ; I will be the first of believers.” He made the
request that we might know that no eye can penetrate
to Allah.

Later a cloud enveloped the elders along with Musa,
and they heard Allah conversing with Musa. Then
they said that they would not believe in that which
they had heard until they had seen the God who spoke.
Then the fibre of divine wrath came down from heaven ;
a terrible noise was heard, and they fell to the ground.
The world was darkened, and they gave up the ghost.
But Musa interceded, and Allah hearkened, and raised
them up (Sur. ii. 52-53). The seventy then offered
their repentance to Him.

Musa went down with the seventy, bearing the
Tables of the Law. Some say that the tables were of
gold; others, that they were of rubies and emeralds,
and covered with images.

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

177

Coming down to the people, they found them in sin,
worshipping the calf. Musa, in wrath, cast the tables
from his hands. He reproached Harun and the people
and Sllmeri (Sur. vii. 149, xx. 94 seq.). S^meri was
condemned to he set apart from mankind so long as
he should live, and not to be approached. He should
render an inevitable account in the world to come.
Musa burned the calf and reduced it to powder.

The Israelites repented, and Musa announced to

them from Allah, “Return to your Creator
or yield to death ; this shall profit you with
Him. He will pardon you, for He loves to

The Repent-
ance and
Expiation.

pardon. He is merciful” (Sur. ii. 51).

It was better for them to die with the pleasure of

Allah than to live in His wrath. So on the morrow

each rested in his place, his hands placed on his feet,
his face turned to heaven, doing penance and implor-
ing pardon of Allah. Then the 12,000 who had not
sinned smote the remainder with their swords and

beheaded them. The father slew the son, or the son
the father. And Musa threw himself before Allah in

prayer, weeping and crying. And Allah sent a black
cloud to stand in the midst, that they who slew might
not see their victims. The massacre lasted from day-
break to midday. The children and the weak sat
about Musa and cried. Then at noon Allah hearkened
to the prayer of Musa. He showed mercy, and
accepted the repentance both of the dead and the
living, and Musa rendered thanks to Him (Smra. ii.
49-50). Seventy thousand men had perished.

Then Allah commanded the reading of the Tauraih
or Law to the children of Israel. And they Heading of
found the verses ordaining prayer, fasting, **>®’'anrath.
alms, &c., too hard. Then Musa called the seventy

M

178

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

elders to bear witness of the words of Allah. But they
added to his words, saying that He had declared, “If
ye cannot fulfil them, do not so ” (Sur. ii. 70).

Then Musa appealed to the help of Allah, and Allah
ordered a mountain in Sjria to quit its place and
to remain suspended over their heads (Sur. vii.
170).

In the end Musa prayed, and the Law was made
easier (Sur. ii. 61). Then Musa led them back to
Betiirn to Egypt, and Allah gave them the palaces and
Egypt- t]!© dwellings of the Copts and of Pharaoun
for their heritage, as it is written in the Koran
(Sur. vii. 133).

The children of Israel possessed all this land as far
as Maghreb and Mazenderan and Spain, and they
remained there many years, and Musa remained with
them, and gave them counsels each day, reminding
them of the benefits of Allah (Sur. ii. 38, vii. 137).

There is some dispute among the Moslem doctors as
MnBaand to the personality of Kliidr, some identifying
Khidr. Elias, othei’s as Jeremy and Elisha.

He is said to be guardian of the seas ; and whoever
falls into the sea is by him washed, and Khidr pro-
nounces over him the legal prayer. Elias is guardian
of the deserts and friend of wanderers. Those guardian
spirits are invisible except at their own will. Khidr is
connected with the legend of the Quest of the Water
of Life, which gives immortality till the day of the
Kesurrection.

It was revealed to Musa that Al lah had a servant
wiser than himself, namely, Khidr. Musa went with
Joshua, son of Nun, to seek him at “the confluence of
the seas ; ” an account of their adventures is to be
found in the i8th Surah of the Koran.

THE TEADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

179

Ofirrouii, son of Yeshar, a descendant of Levi, was
cousin of Musa. He was a goldsmith, and ^
by means of some alchemy acquired great Q&roun
riches. He became filled with pride, and
when alms were demanded from him, he refused to
give. He then suborned a woman to charge Musa with
fornication, but Allah changed the word in her mouth,
and she betrayed the intrigue of Q^roun [cf. Sur.
xxxiii. 69). The earth opened and seized Qlroun as
far as the ankles ; at the repeated command of Musa
it seized him as far as the knees, and so gradually he
entirely disappeared. With him were swallowed up
the seventy who had apostatised with him. At the
day of resurrection they will be sent to hell. And
all the treasures of Q^roun were swallowed up also
(Sur. xxviii. 81 seq.).

On his return to Egypt, Musa was bidden by Alla h
to lead the children of Israel into Syria,

There were in that land three great cities — Musa jith
Balq 4 , ArihH (Jericho), and Ily&. The people ^^*”**'
were giants, the remains of the people of Ad. The
greatest among them was Oudj (Og), who, when stand-
ing on the sea-shore, would take a fish from the water
and hold it in the sun tiU it was roasted.

Musa issued the word, “ 0 my people ! enter the
Holy Land that Allah hath destined for you (Sur.
V. 24).

The twelve chiefs of the twelve tribes perceived Oudj
advancing to meet them. He regarded them
as so many ants, placed them in his boot, and
showed them to the people in his house. He would
have slain them, but at the intercession of his wife
they were spared, and >went back and described the
giants to the afirighted hosts of Israel. They re-

i8o

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

fused to advance. Musa and Harun went forward

alone.

But though, the Israelites sought to return to Egypt,
they returned, in spite of themselves, to the same spot.
Musa, after slaying Oudj, returned to them. Then
Allah sent a vision by Gabriel, saying, “They shall he
condemned to wander in the desert for forty years ;
afflict not thyself because of this perverse people”
(Sur. V. 29).

When they prayed for food in the desert, where there

The Manna thoms, Musa prayed, and

and the AUah caused manna to drop from the ends of

Qnaiis. thoms. Then the quails were sent for

meat (Sur. ii. 54).

Then Musa struck the rock with his rod, and each

The Eook
and the
Twelve
Springs.

of the tribes drank of a separate spring (Sur.
ii. 57). In their want of faith, the people
took a great quantity of quails against the

morrow, and Allah sent no more, until Musa prayed.

and He relented.

A cloud was sent to remain above them each day
until the evening and to give them shade (Sur. ii. 54).
Their clothes wore not out ; each child as it came into
the world was dressed, and its garments grew with its
growth.

The rock that gave the water was carried by Musa
on an ass, and the water burst forth from it.

At the end of thirty years, Harun died in the desert ;
three years after, Musa and all the chiefs. Musa
instituted Joshua his successor, who received the gift
of prophecy; and after the death of Joshua, Caleb,
son of Jephone, was prophet. On the day that the
children of Israel came out of the desert, Joshua and
Caleb alone survived of those who had entered it.

THE TEADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE. i8i

When Allah woiild call Haxun to himself, Musa took
him to the distance of a parasang from the ^
people. Harun saw a beautiful tree, beneath Musa and
which was a bed covered with a carpet.

Harun lay down and slept, and Musa remained .seated
at his side. The angel of death took the soul of Harun,
and Musa found him dead. Presently the couch and the
tree and Harun disappeared, and Musa knew not whether
he had gone upto heaven or had descended into the earth.

When, on his return, the Israelites accused him of
having slain his brother, AUah caused the bed to descend
with the body of Harun, that they might see he was
dead [cf. Sur. sxxiii. 69).

Three years later, at a warning from Allah, Musa
called Joshua and went forth from the midst of the
people. A wind arose fi:om the east ; terror laid hold
on the heart of Joshua, for he knew not what it meant.
Musa pressed him to his bosom. The moon was
obscured, and Musa disappeared, leaving his garment
behind him. On his return, the people accused Joshua
of having slain Musa, and imprisoned him under a
guard of ten men. But in the night they saw an
angel clearly from heaven, saying, “Deliver Joshua, for
Allah hath called Musa to him.” Then he was released.

Amother account is that Musa went forth with Joshua
and saw angels digging a tomb. Musa asked, “For
whom is this tomb 1 ” They replied, “ For a servant of
the number of the servants of Allah. See how the
tomb is made ! ” Musa went down, and the angel of
death, who was among them, took his soul.

Joshua, son of Nun, was of the tribe of Yussuf. His
mother was Mariam, sister of Harun. Seven The prophet
years after Musa’s death he led the Israelites
against Ariha and slew its giants. Then he attacked

i 82

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

Balqa, the capital and royal residence. Among its
idolatrous inhabitants was a true believer and servant
of Allah, named Bilaam, son of Beor. When the in-
habitants besought his aid in prayer, he said, “ It is the
army of my God ; I will not pray for evil upon them.”
The king, Bilac, sent for him, but Bilaam refused to
pray. Then the king bribed the wife of Bilaam with
great presents of silver and jewels, and Bilaam yielded
to her request and consented to pray (cf. Sur. vii. 1 74).

On the day of attack, he went forth as a pious man
upon an ass. But the ass halted and refused to advance,
and Allah gave it a voice, so that it cried, “ Bilaam,
whither goest thou? Thou wouldst fight against God
and curse the prophet of Allah.” Bilaam turned back.
And Eblis came as an old man and tempted him, say-
ing that an ass had never spoken. So Bilaam a second
time sought the mountain for the purpose of cursing
Israel. And Israel began to flee.

Then Joshua in turn betook himself to prayer, be-
seeching the Lord that the true faith might depart
from among the infidels. And Allah hearkened, and
true faith came forth from the mouth of Bilaam in the
form of a dove and rose to heaven. Then Bilaam, thus
foiled, counselled the king to send forth beautiful
women to seduce the Israelites. The device succeeded,
but Allah sent a plague upon the guilty ones.

Phinees, son of Eleazar, a descendant of Harun, took

Phinees ^ Went to One of the guilty couples,

and transpierced them. Then he carried them
forth and cried in a loud voice, “ Behold and take
warning ! ” In this day 70,000 died of the pest.

The next day the city was taken, and Bilac and
Bilaam were slain. A man named Adjezdn had, con-
trary to the law, taken a part of the booty ; he was

THE TEADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE. 183

cast into the fire with the booty, and the spot is called
Adjezdn to this day.

Other kings of the land, Kouma, Djioun (Sihon),
and Baraq, are named. Baraq believed, but afterwards
denied the law of Musa. Joshua died at the age of
128, having led the children of Israel during twenty-
eight years. He was succeeded by Caleb and Khazqil
(Ezekiel), who was of the tribe of Jehud. They attacked
the apostate Baraq and his people, and cut off the
thumbs of Baraq, who had treated in this way seventy
kings. After seven years’ war the army of Israelites went
back to Egypt. Many had been slain, many remained
in the land, where their descendants dwell to this day.

The chronicler fixes all these events in the time of
King Minotschehr. He was succeeded by his Tri„g„ of
grandson Zew or Zab, who founded Bagdad.

After Zew came Kaiqobd,d, who resided at Balkh. The
events that happened in Israel after Musa’s death
occurred in this reign.

It is said that Khazqil is the Dsoul-Kefl of the Koran.
He is also called Ibn-al-Adiouz, as son of „

The Prophet

an aged pair who had no children. Khazqil xhazqii
was one of the three prophets who raised ^
men from the dead ; Musa and Isa were the other two.
A great multitude had lain dead for several years, after
a pest sent upon them for disobedience in refusing to
make war on the infidels. At the prayer of Khazqil,
Allah raised them up, and they lived again tUl their
term was come. It is said that their descendants exhale
an odour of death (see Sur. ii. 244).

Unlike the Bible, the Chronicle gives the genealogy
of Elias as a descendant of Harun. He was

iElias.

sent to turn the people from their idolatrous
worship of Baal. At his prayer rain ceased and famine

184

THE EISE OF CHEISTEHDOM.

ensued, whicli lasted three years. None had bread
except Elias, so that when in any place bread was
smelt, men said, “Elias passed by here yesterday.”

He brought bread to the house of an aged woman
and her son, Ehseus, whom he cured of paralysis.

At the end of the three years Elias and Eliseus went
to the king and bade him pray to the idol. As the
prayers were unheard, Elias prayed, and it began to
rain, and the com and the grass grew.

But the people again became infidel, and Elias
prayed for their salvation. But when they had anew
renounced the worship of God, he turned his heart from
them, and going forth from the town with Ehseus, cried,
“ Lord, take me from amongst them ! ” So Allah took
him, and granted him to live until the day when Israfil
shall sound the trumpet of judgment, and gave him
Paradise for a dwelling. He appointed Eliseus his
successor, and God made him a prophet.

While he hved, Eliseus called the children of Israel,

EUseus forsaken the law of Musa, to Allah.

After his death there was no longer a prophet,
but there were sages, blessed of Allah, who exhorted
them.

They had an ark with them called Sahin^: the head
, , of it was as the head of a cat. He who had

The Ark.

any wish, went to the ark, addressed his
prayer to God, and obtained what he asked. In war,
the ark was carried before the army ; a noise like the
cry of a cat went forth from it, and Allah filled the
hearts of their foes with fear, so that they fled. The
trust of the Israelites was in this ark, as it is said
in the Koran, “ The ark, on which shall be security on
the part of your Lord, also the relics of Musa and of
Haran, and angels shall hear it” (Sur. ii. 254).

THE TEADITIONS OE THE MOSQUE. 185

The relic of Musa was the rod, that of Harun
his mitre. There was also a small quantity of the
manna which they had brought back from the desert ;
also fragments of the Tables that Musa had broken.
The ark passed from the hands of Musa to the other
prophets, till it came to Eliseus. After his death, the
people gave themselves up to wickedness, and only a
few adhered to the law of Musa. Then Allah gave
the people into the hands of an oppressor. Their king,
Illlq, was attacked by the Amalekites, who obtained
possession of the ark and sent it into the Maghreb.
The Israelites remained without a prophet until Allah
sent to them a prophet, Samuel, and gave to TMout
the kingdom. Then the ark returned into their
possession.

In the space of 460 years twenty kings reigned
over the children of Israel. They were Il^q, of
Chusan, Noufil, brother of Caleb, Khafawend,

Nasir. Then appeared a prophetess, Diwan ; she slew
the king and made Barak king in his place. Then
there was a king from the Hedjaz, of the race of Loth,
named Sarir, then Abmak, Taris. A troop of Philistines
invaded the land, and called to them the Beni-
Ammon. Then, after eighteen years, there was another
Israelite king, Jephel, followed by Akroun. Then
there was an interregnum of twenty years. Then
there was a man named Ali, who was priest, and
exercised the royal power. He was weak, and the
ark fell into the hands of wicked men. At the end
of thirty years Allah granted the prophetic functions
to Samuel, son of Rayyan, son of Alqama. The
Israelites, exhausted by their oppressive kings, were
then governed by DjMout, of the Amalekite race.
Samuel appointed TMout their king.

i86

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

The kingdom of Dj&lout was in Syria. The Israel-
ites, oppressed by the descendants of the
’ ancient giants, with the Adites and the
Themoudites, asked of Allah a prophet who should
renew the law and religion of Musa. Rayyan, the
descendant of Haxun, left a wife with child, who was
confided to the care of the sage II. She gave birth to
a child called Samuel, who was instructed by II in the
law and religion of Musa up to the age of seven years.
At forty years he received the gift of prophecy from
AUah.

One night while Samuel slept, Gabriel came and
made a noise, so that Samuel awoke. He saw no one,
and said, “ Master, didst call me?” and H said, “ No.”
This was repeated the next night and the third. And
II said, “ My son, if in the night some one call thee,
answer: Here am I, what dost thou command? I
am in thy hands ! ” Samuel did so. Then Gabriel
appeared to him, and communicated to him the will
of AUah.

II had two grown sons, whom he had taught the
duty of sacrifice after the law of Musa, and nothing
more. And Samuel said, “ Allah hath said : Why hast
thou neglected to perform the sacrifice, so that thy
sons add to it or take from it-? Why hast thou not
directed them ? Because of this sin I wiU deliver thee
into the hands of an enemy, who shall slay thy sons,
take away the ark, and cause thee to perish.” Then
DjMout came, made war on the children of Israel, and
slew the sons of II ; and II died of grief. The ark
was lost.

Then the Israelites said to Samuel, “Pray that
AUah may give us a king, that we may make war to
take the ark again.” And the prophet said to them,

THE TEADITIOHS OE THE MOSQUE. 187

“ Allah hath appointed TMout yoiu* king ” (Sur. ii.
247-248).

TMout was of the race of the children of Israel.
He was poor, a water-porter like his ancestors,
who had asses for this use. Now the father
of T^lout had lost an ass, which had fled into the
desert. T^lout had gone to seek the ass, and Samuel
sought T§,lout to make him king. Seeing him afar
off, Samuel called him and said, “ Thou shalt be
king of the children of Israel.” T^lout replied, “ O
prophet of Allah ! thou knowest that my tribe is the
least of all tribes, and that I am the poorest and
the weakest of all the children of Israel.” Samuel
said, “ It is the order of Allah.” Then he poured on
his head the sacred oil, which was said to noyai
have been inherited from Yussuf, son of
Yakoub, and was in the hands of the prophets. In
appointing a king, they poured it upon his head and
face, that his skin might become brilliant and pure.

The tribe of which came the prophets was the tribe
of Levi ; that of which came the kings was Levi and
the tribe of Yehud, which in the eyes of the
people was despised. The Israelites said, “ Why should
he reign over us 1 We are worthier of the royalty than
he ” (Sur. ii. 248).

TMout was the wisest man of all the tribes, and had
the loftiest stature ; therefore he was called TMout.
Samuel said, “Allah gives the power to whom He
wills.” The people said, “ Show us a sign ! ” Samuel
said, “ The sign of his kingship shall be that the ark
shall return ” (Sur. ii. 249).

Now none knew where the ark was. Some said that
the enemy had cast it on the dung-heap, and that Allah
had sent angels with the order to raise the ark into the

i88

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

air. Others said that the idolaters had placed it in
their temple. And when they went to the temple,
they saw the ark placed above the idols, and the idols
stretched on the ground. The infidels said, “ It is
the talisman of the children of Israel : put it out of
this house.” Then they took it and attached it to the
tails of two cows, each of which had a calf. Allah
caused the cows to be guided by angels, that they
might place the ark in the midst of the Israelites.
Then the cows returned and their calves. The people
having received the ark, recognised TMout as king
and submitted to his orders.

The Chronicle proceeds to relate how T^lout made
war against DjMout under the direction of Samuel, as
we read in the second chapter of the Koran, of which
narrative there is a variant in the Biblical first Book of
Samuel, where Gideon, in the incident of the lapping
of the water, takes the place of TMout. In the end,
there remained with TMout only 313 men — the same
number that the prophet Mohammed had with him on
the day of Bedr.

The battle was delayed by direction of Allah, for

Daond David, son of Isai — a little man with grey

(David), eyes, thin hair, timid of heart, and delicate of
body — ^was destined to slay DjMout. “ Thou shalt
recognise him,” said the divine voice, “ by this : when
thou shalt place the horn upon his head, the oil shMl
come forth.” Samuel went to Isai, but neither of his
eleven sons was chosen. At last Samuel found David
in a valley, withdrawing his sheep two by two from a
torrent. He doubted not that this was the chosen one,
and placing the horn upon his head, the oil came forth.

DjMout proudly challenged TMout to single combat,
and Talout took a coat of mail given him by Samuel,

THE TEADITIOHS OF THE MOSQUE. 189

and clothed successively each of his band therewith,
but it fitted none. Finally Isai, father of David, spoke
of this remaining son, and it was found that the coat
of mail fitted him. David was willing to encounter
DjMout, and went forth to meet him in his shepherd’s
attire, armed only with a sling and three magic stones
which had spoken to him from the road, saying, “ Take
me ! ” One of these stones was that cast by Musa on
the enemies of Allah, another had been cast by Harun.
The third was to carry doom to DjMout. TMout pro-
mised him the half of his kingdom and his daughter
should he vanquish DjMout. David replied, “ I will
slay him by the power of Allah ! ” And as a good
Mussulman, advancing before the line of battle, he
paused and pronounced the sacred formula, Bis-
millah !

PjMout, at the head of 100,000 men, clad in cuirasses
and casques and fully armed, despised David and
taunted him. Then David put his hand in his bag,
took one of his stones, placed it in the sling and hurled
it, crpng out, “ Bismillah ! ” Allah ordered the wind
to lift the helmet of DjMout from his head, that the
stone might strike him. The stone crushed his head,
and his brains came forth. He fell from his horse and
died. The stone fell to the earth and broke into a
multitude of fragments, which struck aU the horsemen
on their heads. A great number were killed by this
single stone ; as it is said in the Koran, “ They put
them to flight by the permission of Allah, and David
slew DjMout.”

Then TMout put the rest to flight, returned, and told
Samuel the story of David. Samuel said to TMout,
“ Accomplish thy promise ! ” And TS.lout gave David
his daughter in marriage, confided all affairs to him,

190

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

and gave him his ring, and all the people were subject
to his orders.

Tfilout in course of time became jealous of David,

nt Plots dared not show this to Samuel. Then

to Slay Samuel died, and TMout plotted to slay

' David. He proposed to go in the middle of

the night and cut him in twain. But David’s wife
gave him information. Then David filled a bottle
with wine, placed it in his bed, covered it with a
garment, and went his way. T&lout came in the
middle of the night with a sword dipped in poison,
and cut the bottle in two, and as the wine escaped,
TSIout said, “ He drank much wine yesterday ! ”
Then he discerned that it was a ruse of his daughter,
and would have slain her, but she fled. The next
night, when T^lout was asleep, David came and placed
about his head four arrows, on which was written his
own name. When T&lout awoke, he said, “ David is
more generous than I; for if I had had him in my
power, I would not have done him grace ; but he has
done me no harm.”

One day, pursued by T&lout, David hid in a cavern
of a mountain, and Allah inspired a spider to close the
entrance to the cavern with his web, so that Tilout
found him not.

The sages of Israel united against T&lout, who slew
them all. There remained only a wise woman, whom
he had delivered to his chamberlain, a man of good
heart. Presently, T^lout, smitten through a dream
with remorse, inquired of the chamberlain if there was
no sage of whom he could demand expiation. Then the
chamberlain spoke of this sage woman who had beeii
delivered to him to he slain. She was brought before
TMout, and he said, “What is my expiation?” She

THE TEADITIOHS OF THE MOSQUE. 19 1

answered, “ Lead me to the tomb of a prophet, that I
may pray; perhaps Allah will cause him to speak.”
They went to the tomb of Samuel. She prayed, and
Samuel said, “ His expiation shall be that he go with
his sons to the Valley of Giants and fight them till he
die.” Now TMout had twelve sons. He called them
all and asked them, “ What say ye ? ” They answered,
“We obey ! ” So they went to the city of the giants,
made war, and were all slain.

On the death of TMout David prospered, and Allah
granted to him the gift of prophecy. His The Prophet
genealogy is traced up to Azer, father of
Ibrahim. His unassailable power, which is referred
to in the Koran (Sur. xxxviii. 16, 19), was seen in the
guard of four thousand horsemen at the gate of his
palace.

None was at the same time king and prophet,
except David and Suleiman, for Yussuf was but the
treasurer of a king. David had not asked the king-
ship of Allah ; Suleiman did so (Sur. xxxviii. 25, 34).

The function of David as judge and deputy of Allah
himself is dwelt upon. The Psalms were sent to him :
they contained neither law nor prescriptions, but were
entirely consecrated to the estabhshment of the unity
of God. His voice was incomparable, and when he
began to sing the praises of Allah, the birds of heaven
came and placed themselves about his head and
listened. The mountains also joined with him in song,
as it is said in the Koran (Sur. xxxiv. 10, 17, 18,
21, 79 y

David was an obedient servant of God and just
among men. He had ninety-nine wives beside concu-
bines. He divided his time into three parts, occupy-
1 Cf. Ps. cxlviii., and the Talmudists (Sale).

192

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

ing one day with the aflFairs of this world, and with
the administration of justice, consecrating the second
day to the service of God and to the affairs of the
other world, and the third day recreating himself with
his wives in permitted pleasures.

When David prayed that he might attain to the
The Triia of degree of distinction of the ancient prophets,
Dairid. Allah reminded him of the trials in which
Ibrahim, Yakoub, Yussuf, Musa, and Ayoub had proved
their perseverance. David prayed that he too might
be tried, and Allah granted his request.

Years passed, when one night, as he was in the
attitude of adoration before Allah, Eblis under the form
of a dove came and fell before him, simulating death.
David would have seized the dove, but it fled by the
window of the chamber. The eye of David, in fol-
lowing it, rested on a woman seated opposite him,
naked, and who was washing her head. He was
smitten with love, and demanded of his confidant who
this woman was. The reply was that she was wife of
Uriah, of royal race, and that Uriah had gone forth
with David’s army to make war with the infidels.
David sent a letter to the commander bidding him
place Uriah before the ark ; for those who were in
this position would not return ; they must conquer or
die. Uriah marched at the head of the army three
times, but the fourth time he was slain. His death
was announced to his wife, Bethsabe, who put on
mourning for him according to the law. Then David
proposed to make her his wife, and she consented,
on condition that if she should have a son, the son
should be appointed his successor. The son was
Solomon.

David was one day celebrating the praises of Allah

THE TEADITIOHS OE THE MOSQUE.

193

in a lonely place, according to his custom. When he
had finished his adoration, two angels appeared on the
side of the Mihrab and seated themselves before him,
and David was afraid (Sur. xxxviii. 20).

They said, “Fear not; we are two adversaries; the
one of us has acted unjustly towards the other. Judge
between us with equity ; direct us in the even way.
This my brother had ninety-and-nine sheep, and I
had but one. He said, ‘ Give her to me to keep,’ and
he disputed her with me.” David said, “He hath
acted unjustly towards thee in asking thy sheep to
add to his. Many of those who are associated together
act unjustly towards one another, except those who
believe and do what is right; but their number is
small.” And when David perceived that Allah tried
him, he implored pardon of his Lord, prostrated
himself and repented (Sur. xxxviii. 20-23). He wept
so much, that he could plunge a cup in the water of
his tears. He drank therefrom, and there sprang up
before him a tree. So he remained forty days and forty
nights. Then Allah sent to him Gabriel, who said
to him, “ O David ! the Lord commends to thee His
salvation.” He understood that it was a reproach, and
wept still more. It is said that during these forty
days he shed more tears than Adam and his descen-
dants had shed or shall shed until the day of resurrec-
tion for their sins.

Allah received his repentance ; the good news was
brought by Gabriel. And David said, “ O Gabriel !
how on the day of resurrection shall Uriah act toward
me ? ” Gabriel answered, “ Allah hath not told me.”
David began again to weep, to adore, and to pray, until
Allah sent word to him, “ O David, on the day of re-
surrection, when Uriah shall accuse thee, I will give

N

194

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

him so great a part of Paradise that he shall be satisfied
with thee.” Then David understood that Allah had
shown him mercy, and his grief left him. But the
remembrance of his sins was ever with him, and he
wrote them on his hand, that, looking, he might recall
them to himself.

Afterwards David asked of Allah that he might gain
his living by the exercise of an industry ; and Allah
gave him power over iron, which became between his
hands as paste and as wax. He ordered Gabriel to
teach him. the art of making coats of mail, as it is
recorded in the Koran (Sur. xxxiv. lo, xxi. 8o).

These coats of mail, the rings of which are with-
out joints or sutures, are called Davidian to this
day.

After David had reigned twelve years, a famine and
The Temple sn epidemic afflicted the children of Israel,
atAiiia. g great number died. They assembled

at the place now called Ailia, and prayed that the cures
might be removed. When their prayer was heard, they
said, “We must build here a temple, for it is a blessed
place.” They did so ; and thence is the privilege of this
temple. When David was ready to die, the temple
was not finished, and he charged Suleiman with its
completion. The foundations of it are of hard stone,
because Suleiman, after the death of his father, forced
the Divs to raise the foundations in stone. When
you come to the spot at the present day, you see that
the columns and the gates are alike of stone, as in the
mosque of Damascus. Only the columns of the temple
of Ailia are from twenty to thirty cubits in height and
of a single piece, so that there is no binding with
cement; a proof that such a thing cannot have been
made by men. It is said in the Koran that “all

THE teaditio:n"s of the mosque. 195

dsemons, architects, and divers were subject” to
Suleiman (Sur. xxxviii. 30),

The cause of the famine is said to have been that
T^ 9 .vid desired to know the number of the children of
Israel. Allah approved not of this, and said, 0 David !
didst thou not know that I promised to Ibrahim and
^0 Yakoub to bless their descendants by making them
numerous that none can know their number ? ” Then
^lah said, Choose one of these three things : three
y^ars of famine, three years of the enemy, or three days
^f death.” David said within himself, “I could not
endure three years of famine, and three years of the
^nemy is a great calamity.” He therefore chose three
days of death. Then the plague broke out among the
<^hildren of Israel, and there died so many the first day
fhat their number could not be counted ; and David
feared that after three days there would be no more
Israelites. He prayed and said, 0 Lord ! it is I who
have drunk sour wine, and the children of Israel have
pain in the bowels ; ” that is, I have committed a sin,
^nd they are punished for it. “ If thou wouldst punish,
punish me, and remove death from them.” And Allah
heard his prayer.

It is recorded in the Koran, “We have given to
Loqman wisdom” (Sur. xxxi. ii). He lived Loqman the
in the time of David, and was with him for
thirty years. The saying is ascribed to him, “ Silence
is wisdom, but few practise it.” ^

To Suleiman Allah granted the gift of prophecy,
along with the royalty, as heritage of David, suieinum.
He was David’s assessor during his lifetime

^ There are numerons stories of Loqman ; but Tabari has not reported
them, because bis object in the Chronicle was simply to fix the epoch of
each personage (cf. Sale’s notes to Sur. xxix.).

196

THE EISE OF CHKISTENDOM.

(Sur. xxi. 78, xxvii. 16). A story is told different from
that in the Bible illustrative of the sagacity and dignity
of Suleiraan.

Passages in the Koran which allude to the great
power of Suleiman are then adduced. He was a great
builder, employing for this purpose the services of the
Divs. His throne of rubies is especially named, above
which were represented two vultures sheltering Suleiman
with their shadow. Diving also began in Suleiman’s
time for peaiis, and the Divs were employed in it.

He had also a carpet, five hundred parasangs long,
on which were placed three hundred thrones of gold
and silver; and Suleiman ordered the birds to join
their wings for shelter to him and his suite. He had
also a thousand crystal houses, abodes of his thousand
wives, of whom three hundred were legitimate. He
would then bid the wind to raise the carpet, with all
that was upon it, to the distance of a mile or so. And
thus he would travel from place to place. In the morn-
ing he would be at Damascus, and in the evening
at Ailia, as it is reported in the Koran (Sur. xxi. 81,
xxxiv. II, xxxviii. 35).

With the same wild and audacious fancy, the Chro-
saieiman and Jiicle tells of the expedition of Suleiman to
Baikis. desert of Arabia; but the compilers, as

usual, had a clear topography in their mind’s eye.

He learned that in the land of Yemen there were
idolaters. He caused the carpet to be prepared, drew
up thereon his army, and bade the wind carry the carpet
from Syria to Yemen. His route was by the Hedjaz.
Arrived at Mecca, he bade the wind let down the carpet,
and made the procession about the temple, saying,
“ Drom this place there shall go forth a prophet from
among the Arabs ; his dwelling shall be at Medina,

THE TEADITIOHS OF THE MOSQUE

197

and his tomb shall be also at Medina ; and on the earth
there shall be no man nobler than he before Allah.”
Then he left Mecca and went out of the land of
Hedjaz. The road crossed a burning desert, and his
people suffered from thirst. Suleiman desired to ascer-
tain if there was water ; the Tioiid-houd (lapwing)
alone knew the places of water. His seeking for this
bird and finding it not is alluded to in the Koran
(Sur. xxvii. 20).

Now the houd-houd had gone to the place where
Balkis was, in the territory of Saba, of which she was
queen. Her beauty was surpassing, for her mother had
been a Peri and her father a prince. The houd-Tioud
of Suleiman found another houd-houd at the palace, and
recited the power of his master. The other replied,
“ The queen adores the sun.”

The houd-houd returned with the news to Suleiman,
and he gave her a letter, Avhich she carried to the
Queen of Saba, calling upon her and her people to
become true believers. The Chronicle proceeds, ex-
pounding and explaining the 27th Surah of the
Koran, to relate the circumstances which led to the
wedding of Suleiman with Balkis, and the conversion
of all her army. He had a son by Balkis. A fourth
chapter narrates the story of the miraculous birth of
Balkis.

In Surah xxxviii. 33 it is written, “We have proved
Suleiman, by placing on his throne a body.” xheEingof
The explanation of this allusion is as follows.

There was a* king of an island kingdom. He had
great power, and was an idolater. Suleiman resolved
to attack him ; so preparing the carpet, he was trans-
ported upon it, two months’ journey, to the island.
He attacked the king, slew him, and converted all the

198 THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

people to the true religion. He then brought back
with him the king’s daughter, who was most beautiful.
But she was greatly grieved, and in his perplexity
Suleiman took counsel of the Divs, who made a figure
of marble resembling the father of the girl. On seeing
it, she was glad, and caused a royal throne to be made
for it, and day and night adored it. This was known
to none but to Asaf, son of Berakhya, who knew the
great name of God, and was steward in the house of
Suleiman. He informed Suleiman that in his house
was an idol, wherefore Suleiman ordered the statue to
be broken and the young girl to be punished. Then
he put on a pure robe and said, “ O Lord, Thou knowest
that it is not worthy of the sons of David that they
should adore in their houses another than Thee, after
all the benefits wherewith Thou hast loaded them. But
as for me, I knew it not. Come to my aid ! ” And he
lamented, asked pardon, and wept.

Suleiman had a ring on which was engraved the
great name of Allah, by means of which he was the
master of the universe. His wife and mother of his
children was called Djerade. Suleiman had more trust
in her than in his other wives, and occasionally the
ring was left in her custody. One day, by the will of
Allah, when the ring was in the hand of Djerade, one
of the great Divs took the form of Suleiman. He
received the ring and seated himself on the throne of
Suleiman ; and all submitted to his orders because of
the ring. When Suleiman returned and demanded
the ring, Djerade said, “I have restored it to thee.”
Suleiman denied this,, and they disputed together.
Then Djerade said, “Thou art not Suleiman; he who
is seated on the throne is Suleiman ; thou art a Div
who hast taken the form of Suleiman.” He was

THE TEADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

199

astonished and went out of the house, saying that he
was Suleiman to all whom he met. But they beat
him and answered, “ Thou art a Div ! ” In the end,
some fishermen made him work for the wage of two
fishes a day. But at the end of forty days, Allah
pardoned him and restored his power. The ring was
found by him in a fish ; men, daemons, and birds unite
about him ; the usurping Div is by the aid of the Peris
brought from the depth of the sea, and is thence cast
back tied to stone and iron, where he remains till the
day of the resurrection.

His reign was of forty years. Towards the end of
his life he would often repair to the temple Death of
at Ailia, and remain there a month or two
without coming forth, wrapped in prayer and adoration.
None dared approach him as he stood in this devout
attitude, neither man nor dsemon. Now in his mihrah
there grew every day a tree to him unknown. Suleiman
asked, “ What is thy name and thy use ? ” The tree
replied, “ Such is my name and such is my use.” Then
Suleiman had it transplanted to another place ; and
if it was of medicinal use, he caused its nature to be
inscribed in a book. One day Suleiman saw a new
tree in his mihrah, and asked, “ What is thy name and
thy use?” The tree replied, “For the destruction of
this temple: make of me a staff and lean on me.”
Suleiman said, “ None can destroy this temple so long
as I live ; ” and he understood that the tree had warned
him of his death. He pulled up the tree and made a
staff, leaning on it when he prayed. Knowing that
the temple was far from finished, and that when he
should be dead the Divs would not execute it, he said,

“ 0 Lord ! cause the event of my death to remain un-
known to the Divs and the Peris, that they may finish

200

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

this temple.” Allah heard his prayer for the completion
of the temple and that the Peris might be belied.

When his life came to its term, Suleiman stood up,
praying, leaning upon the staff. When Allah had
commanded the Angel of Death to take his soul,
Suleiman remained thus an entire year ; and all who
approached saw him in this attitude, and were afraid
to come near. Meanwhile the Divs were toiling day
and night in the temple till it should be finished.
When the soul had quitted the body of Suleiman, Allah
the same day hade the white fly which eats wood to
come from beneath the earth and gnaw the staff. Each
day it gnawed a little ; and had only finished at the end
of a year. The Divs had then finished the construc-
tion of the temple ; the staff was broken, and Suleiman
fell, as it is recorded in the Koran (Sur. xxxiv. 13).

It says that when Suleiman fell, the lies of the Divs
and of the Peris became manifest to men; for they
had pretended before that they knew hidden things.
Had they known hidden things, they would have
known that Suleiman had been dead a year.

The wise men and the learned gathered together,
and shut up the ant for a day and a night, that it
might gnaw wood. Then they compai’ed the space
gnawed with the extent of the staff, and so found how
long Suleiman had been dead. And now, whenever
the white fly gnaws wood, the void is filled with clay
and water by the Divs and the Peris. It will be so
till the day of resurrection, because of their gratitude
to her who delivered them from Suleiman. If not from
them, whence could water and clay come in the midst
of the wood ? ^

1 There seems to be a reflection of the story of the building of the temple
by Qenii in i Kings vi. 7, and the Eabbins ad loo. (Sale).

THE TEADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

301

The Chronicle proceeds to narrate the story of the
ant, alluded to in the 2 yth Surah of the Koran ; also
the adventure with the horses, alluded to in the 38th
Surah as sacrificed in expiation for his neglect of one
of the daily prayers prescribed to the faithful.

Suleiman is thoroughly a Mussulman king, and his
territories are Syria, Hedjaa, Saba, Yemen, Maghreb,
and Arabia.

The Chronicle next interposes an account of the
kings of Persia contemporary with Suleiman.

Suleiman is succeeded by his son Kadjaim, who was
king without being prophet, and who reigned TTing. of
only over a part of Syria and of the children
of Israel, who had many kings. The son of Radjaim
was Abim, who became king of the two tribes of Yehud
and Benjamin, and who was succeeded by his son Asa.
There was war between him and the king of Hindostan,
named Zarh, who was conquered and slain.

Abim abandoned the religion of Musa, of David, and
Suleiman, and introduced idolatry among the children
of Israel, which spread in Syria and the sacred city of
AiHa. Asa recalled the people to religion. He put
to death his mother, who was an idolatress. Then
many of the people who were idolaters migrated to
Hindostan, where the king adored the sun and moon.
He invaded Syria, and Asa in his distress offered a
prayer which is cited as a model to good Mussulmans,
beginning, “ O Allah ! Lord of the seven heavens. Lord
of the great throne ! God of Ibrahim, of Israel, of
Isaac, of Yakoub, and of the twelve tribes ! Thou
remainest hidden from Thy creatures when Thou wilt.
Man cannot attain Thy dwelling, nor seize the substance
of Thy greatness. Thou art the watcher who sleepeth
not, the Great One, upon whom neither days nor nights

202

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

have effect.” The prayer goes on to call to mind divine
deliverances in the sacred history of Islam.

“ Thou raisest the dead, and Thou dost preserve the
world eternally. Thy strength perishes not ; Thou art
great and dost not diminish. My God ! have pity on
me and hear my prayer.”

In a dream he is assured of the friendship of Allah
and of His aid. He was made a prophet, and finally
the army of Zarh was defeated by an army of angels.^

As a, was succeeded by Josaphat, and he by Athaha,
who slew the descendants of the kings and reigned
seven years. Then Joas, son of King Ochozias, came
from his retreat and put her to death. He was suc-
ceeded by Amasias, and he by Azarias, Joatham, Achaz,
Ezechias.

Ezechias was a great king, a believer and a just man.
EzecMas and prophet, Isaiah, was sent to him, who was
Isaiah. received by Ezechias, and who converted

the people from idolatry. And Allah preserved the
kingdom for the sake of the prophet.

Now Ezechias was lame and paralytic, and had a
wound on his leg which hindered him from riding on
horseback. Hearing of this, Sennacherib, who reigned
in Moussoul, invaded Syria. His general, Nabuchodo-
nosor, warned him that already in a previous expedi-
tion an army had been annihilated in answer to the
prayer of Isaiah, which raised a great wind. But
Sennacherib heeded not his counsel and marched to
the holy city.

At the prayer of Isaiah, Allah sent a vision and
declared, “ I will protect this temple of Ailia, and I
will remove from thee this enemy. But say to the
king that his life is arrived at its term, that he must

^ The story has found some reflections in the Biblical Chronicle,

THE TEADITIOHS OF THE MOSQUE.

203

make his will and intrast the kingdom to another,
whom I will protect.”

But in answer to the king’s prayer, a vision came to
Isaiah again : “ Tell the king, I have added to thy life
fifteen years, and I will deliver thee from the enemy.”
Then Isaiah was ordered to take water from a certain
well and wash the feet of Ezechias ; thus the wound
was cured. The army of Sennacherib was destroyed,
and he was taken captive and sent back to Moussoul.

Ezechias was succeeded by Manaseh, and he by
Ammon. They followed the true religion. Then came
Joakim. The people did ill and sought to slay Isaiah,
who fled from the city and hid in a tree which Allah
caused to open. But Eblis seized his cloak, and when
the tree closed, a part of the cloak remained outside.
When the Israelites saw it, they brought a saw, and
sawed the tree which held the prophet.

After some years, Nabuchodonosor came with a
great army from Moussoul, made the king prisoner,
put out his eyes, and slew his sons before him. He
destroyed the temple and all the towns, and carried
away the children of Israel into Persia, whose king at
that time was Gouschtasp. He gave all the kingdom
of Syria and of Ailia to Nabuchodonosor.

Some say that Jeremy is another name of the
prophet called Aziz, who is referred to in the jeremy the
Koran (Sur. ii. 261). After the conquests
by Nabuchodonosor, he returned to Iraq with many
prisoners, among whom was the prophet Daniel.

Set at liberty by Nabuchodonosor, Jeremy, obedient
to the divine voice, mounted an ass and came into
Syria and Palestine. When he saw the holy city in
ruins, and found none to give him bread, he plucked
some grapes and figs, and sat dovva and ate of them

204

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

in a field. Haring no water, lie pressed the grapes
into a cup and drunk. He exclaimed, “How shall
God cause this dead city to live again ? ” Not that he
doubted of the resurrection at the day of judgment.
Towards noon he tied his ass to a tree and slept in
the shade. Then Allah took from him his ass, and he
remained dead one hundred years, as it is recorded
in the Koran. Allah raised him up again when
Gouschtasp succeeded to the throne of Persia, and
Nabuchodonosor had returned to Babylon, and the
great men of Israel had returned to Palestine and had
rebuilt the cities (Sur. ii. 261).^

On this resuscitation of Aziz, Allah said, “We have
made of thee a sign for men.” He gave him prophecy,
taught him the Taurath or Law, and sent him into
the holy city. For in the destruction of the city the Law
had been burned, with all other books of knowledge of
the children of Israel. On coming back and rebuild-
ing the temple, they knew nothing of the Law; they had
no knowledge of religion ; and they were afflicted.

When Aziz appeared they demanded a sign of him,
and he said, “ I am that Jeremy whom Allah sent as
prophet to the children of Israel and who were cast
into prison.” He told them how he had been dead for
one hundred years, and they said, “ Allah is almighty.”
But still they demanded a sign, and he said, “ I will
recite the whole Taurath.” Never before had this been
done, neither by Musa nor Harun. He then recited the
Law, and they committed it to writing, recognising that
he was a true prophet, and rendering thanks to Allah.

In the time of neglect, when Isaiah was prophet, he
had made a copy of the Law in fair writing, and had
placed it under one of the columns of the temple, one
1 Cf. Sale’s note on the Biblical parallel.

THE TEADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

205

of the great monoliths made by the Divs in the
time of Suleiman. Aziz directed them to dig under
sucli and such a column, and they found the Law in a
coffer of wood bound with iron. They compared it
with the Law dictated by Aziz, and there was not a
letter too much or too little. They were seized with
astonishment and said, “ It is not thi deed of a man ! ”
For this cause they became infidels, as it is said in the
Koran, “The Yahud say that Aziz is the Son of God.”
Then Allah refuted their saying, “They take their
doctors and their monks for their lords, to the exclu-
sion of Allah” (Sur. ix. 30-31).^

The Persian king Gouschtasp was a great protector
of the cult of fire. The prophet of the „ , ,
Mages, Zerdusht, who is the author of their and the
religion, who brought the Zendavesta to the
people, lived under his reign. Formerly he had been a
disciple of Aziz, but had become his opponent. Then
Aziz prayed to Allah, who disfigured him, and the
children of Israel cast him out of Aiha. He went to
Iraq, thence to Balkh, and presented himself before
Gouschtasp, claiming to be a prophet and enjoining the
cult of fire. Gouschtasp believed in him and prescribed
his religion in all Persia. The Persians say that
Zerdusht descended from Minotschehr.^

In the reign of Bahman, king of Persia, Nabucho-
donosor, invested with the government of second De-
Babylon, and of Iraq as far as Syria and
Maghreb, was sent a second time to destroy
Ailia. He took with him three wise men whom he

1 It seems an entice misunderstanding to refer to the Jews and Christians
in this passage.

2 The Moslems thus claim, the magians as dissenters from themselves,
as the monks pretended that the followers of Manes were in some sort
Christians.

2o6

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

made his viziers, Daryousch (Darius), Kirousch (Cyrus),
and Ahasuerus, his son.

After destroying the holy place, he brought with
him captive the king Zedechias, son of Joiacim, who
was put to death by Bahman.

In his government of Babylon he had 100,000
youths, descendants of the prophets, in his service.

^ ^ Among them was the prophet Daniel, who was

endowed with wisdom. Evilmerodach, son
of Nabuchodonosor, succeeded him; then Balthasar
reigned. Revolting against Bahman, he was put to
death by Daryousch.

Ahasuerus was sent against the king of Hindostan,
who had revolted against Bahman; he slew him in
battle, and obtained the kingdom, as well as that of
Babylon and Iraq, on the death of Daryousch.

Ahasuerus treated the captive children of Israel with
Aiasueros kinduess and delivered them from slavery,
and Esther, jjg g high birth ; she committed

a fault, and Ahasuerus caused her to be slain. He
took a wife of the children of Israel named Esther,
and had by her a son named Krousch. Esther dis-
tinguished the children of Israel, saying, “They are
my relations ; they are descendants of prophets and
sages ; they must be honoured.” For fear of Bahman,
she dared not send them back to the Holy Land, but
treated them with kindness.

Kirousch, succeeding Ahasuerus, also treated them
Kirousch kindness, because they were of the race

(Cyras). g£ mother. Daniel, grown up, had re-
ceived from God the gift of prophecy. He called
Kirousch to God and to the true religion, and he
abandoned the cult of fire, although in secret, for fear
of Bahman ; on the death of the latter he publicly pro-

THE TRADITIOXS OF THE MOSQUE. 207

fessed the religion of Daniel, and placed him at the
head of his kingdom. Daniel demanded permission to
return with the people to the Holy Land, to restore the
city and the temple. Kirousch refused, saying, ‘'Were
there a thousand prophets like thee, they should all
remain with me.” But the Israelites were permitted to
return. Seventy years had elapsed since their deporta-
tion by Nabuchodonosor. On the death of Kirousch
Daniel returned to the holy place and worshipped
Allah.

CHAPTER VII.

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE— Continued.

The Chronicle now takes up the succession of the
TheHimya- kiugs of Yemen, from the death of Queen
rite Kings. Balkis to the epoch of Bahman. All the
kings of Yemen were Himyarites. One of them,
Tohha, made a victorious expedition to China.

To return to Persia and King Bahman. The sur-
p name of Ardeschir — ^Longhand — was given

to him. He adored fire and held the Magian
religion in esteem. His mother was called Astoniya ;
she descended from Talout, king of the children of
Dara the Israel. Bahman had a posthumous son, Dara,
Elder. been exposed in infancy, and who

came to the throne as Dara the elder.

In the land of Bourn and of the Maghreb was a great
Phffip of empire, that of the lonians (or Greeks). King
Maoedon. Philip was a descendant of Esau, son of Is&k.
In his kingdom there was a town, Macedon, residence
of the kings of Greece. In this land were the Greek
sages, and all the wisdom of the world came from them ;
they were such as Aristotle, Hippocrates, Plato, Socrates,
Hermes, Apollonius and Agathodaemon. Their books
on philosophy, medicine, and the other sciences are
numerous and well known. To-day there remains
naught of them, and their cities are ruined. Their
books only are in the hands of men. Philip rendered

2o8

THE TBADITIOHS OE THE ilOSQUE.

209

the land the most flourishing between Koum, Yemen,
and all the countries of the West.

Philip paid tribute to Dara, like the other kings.
But when Dara the younger succeeded, he was ^
attacked and slain by Alexander, reputed son
of Philip, who is called Dsoul Qarnaim, because he
obtained the empire of all the earth. Alexander was
in reality son of the Persian king Bahram, and of a
daughter of the king of the Greeks. When Philip
died, he took the crown, and his mother informed him
of the circumstances of his birth. His conquest of
Persia and the death of Dara is described ; and it is
said that Alexander collected the Persian books of
wisdom, had them copied and translated into Greek,
and sent to Aristotle, the greatest of the sages. He is
said to have invaded Hindostan, Tibet, and China, and
the Maghreb, and to have arrived at the obscure region.
Thence he returned to Iraq, and died at Zour.

Alexander, as Dsoul Qarnaim, is mentioned in the
Koran (Sur. xviii. 82-84, 92). He was so ugoui
called because he went from one end of the
earth to the other. In his expedition to the East
by Tibet, he constructed the wall of Yadjoudj and
Madjoudj (Gog and Magog.)

He appears to be claimed as a prophet by some, by
others as an inspired man on the ground of Gog and
the allusions in the Koran. The race of Gog
and Magog are said to descend from two brothers, sons
of Japheth, who, after the deluge, fixed their seat
behind the mountains of the East. A fabulous account
is given of these unbelievers, who were walled out by
Dsoul Qarnaim. In another passage of the Koran it
is foretold that they will come forth and spread over
the earth (Sur. xxi. 96).

210

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

The Chronicle gives an account of the successors of
Alexander. Ptolemy Lagos, it is said, placed at Ailia
a chief from among the children of Israel that he
might practise the religion of the Law. Ptolemy
Decianus succeeded; and the commentaries say that
he ruled the people of the cavern.” At the end of
240 years the empire of the Greeks passed to the
Komans, to a man who descended from Esau, namely,
Augustus. He reigned fifty^six years; and
Augustus. forty-second year ^ of his reign Isa, son

of Mariam, was born. Between Isa and Alexander
there was a space of 319 year's.

The Chronicle resumes the story of the kings of
Persia and of the princes after Alexander.

When the empire passed from the Greeks to the
Romans, a king came from Rome, crossed the Tigris,

Anti chus made conquests. His name was Antio-

chus. Aschk, son of Dara the elder, opposed
and slew him in battle. Several years after, Con-

Constautine ^ Rome, Came to avenge

the death of Antiochus. One of the “ kings
of the provinces ” gave him battle, defeated him, and
pursued him to Rome, destroying that city. Then
Constantine fled and founded Constantinople.

Aschk was followed by another Aschk, and he again
TheAsoii Schapour, who reigned sixty years.

During this reign the children of Israel
slew the prophet Yahia, son of Zachariah ;
and they feU into the hands of Schapour, who slew
or reduced them to slavery.

In the fortieth year of Schapour, appeared Isa, son
of Mariam, the prophet.

The Chronicle continues the succession of the

^ Other MSS. in the ■fifty-second year.

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

3II

Aschkanian kings down to Ardeschir B^begibn the
Sassanide, who put an end to the “ kings of the pro-
vinces,” and recovered Syria and the Maghreb from
the Eomans. From the epoch of Alexander to him
there elapsed 520 years.

Meantime there had passed among the children of
Israel many events. Allah had granted to
Zachariah the gift of prophecy and the autho- chSstian
rity over the holy place of Ailia, the temple
and the worship. Mariam, daughter of Imram, had
come into the world ; she had been consecrated and
brought into the temple as a child. Finally, the birth
of Yahia, son of Zachariah, and the birth of Isa, son
of Mariam, took place in the time of the Aschkanians.

During the time of the Ptolemies, the people were
happy and the temple cult was flourishing. The Prophet
It is said that there were four thousand
to five thousand servants who fasted by day and
prayed by night, and who went not out of the temple.
But there was no prophet among the children of Israel.
Then Allah gave the gift of prophecy to Zachariah, and
the people accepted him. He was son of Yahia, and
descended from Radjaim, son of Suleiman. He was
consecrated, like the four thousand servants in the
temple. Now there was a custom among the Israelites
that when a man offered a sacrifice to Allah during
the pregnancy of his wife, he said, “ 0 Lord, if there
should be born to me a son, I will consecrate him to
Thee,” and the mother said the same thing. If the
child was a girl, the vow was not obligatory.

It is said that the origin of the custom of the con-
secration of children was the prescript of Allah to
Musa in the Law, “ I love for servants youths without
sin.” They were to be pure before Allah, and occupied

212

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

all their life in His service. The sense of the word
mou’harrer or consecrated is to be free from the occu-
pations and cares of this world. When one had two
sons, necessarily one of them must be consecrated.

The four thousand servants received Zachariah as
their spiritual superior in the temple. He had a cousin,
Imram, son of Mfi,tan, also a descendant of Suleiman,
who was with him in the service of the temple, and
beloved by him. There also was another man of the
family of Zachariah, named Q 4 pour. He had two
daughters, one of whom he gave in marriage to Imram,
the other to Zachariah. The latter was called Is^ ;
she became mother of Yahia. The wife of Imram was
called Hanna. Zachariah had no children ; Imram had
many ; and when his wife became anew pregnant, the
husband and wife both consecrated the child. This
was Mariam ; as it is said in the Koran, “ The wife of
Imram said : Lord, I have consecrated to thee the child
in my womb ” (Sur. iii. 31).

Allah here mentions the mother first, because the
child has a more direct affinity with the mother. And
there is in the word of the wife of Imram much precious
instruction relative to the service of Allah. If one per-
forms an act of submission, if the act be diminished
and rendered improper, and the servant knows and con-
fesses it, Allah pardons him, and accepts none the less
his imperfect act. This was the case with the mother
of Mariam. Believing that she should give birth to a
child fit to be offered to God, she consecrated it before-
hand. When she was delivered and saw that it was a
girl, she was afflicted and ashamed because of the hin-
drance of her vow, and lamented. She craved pardon
of Allah, pronouncing sadly these words, “ I have given
birth to a daughter.” Allah accepted from her this girl

THE TEADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

213

as a boy, even as it is said in the Koran, “ Her Lord
accepted her with grace ” (Sur. iii. 32}.

Allah said in a vision to Zachariah, “ Tell the mother
of Mariam, I accept from thee this girl as a bov ;

J.11 It. t t ° T ^ ’ TheConse-

take ner to the temple and consecrate her. oration of
Never before had a girl been consecrated in
the temple, and none had been consecrated to remain
there always, because woman is impure, and when sub-
ject to impurity may not remain in the temple, nor
touch a book, nor recite prayers, even as a man who is
subject to any defilement.

When the mother of Mariam brought her child to
the temple, the servants and the devout were very
astonished, and gathered about Zachariah the prophet
and said to him, “ What new custom has the wife of
Imram introduced in consecrating her daughter 1 ”
And Zachariah said, “It is the order of AUah.” Then
they were appeased, and each desired to take and rear
the child. But Zachariah said, “ I have greater rights
over her, for my wife is her aunt.” They answered,
“ If any has greater rights over her than another, it is
her mother.” As they disputed thus with respect to
Mariam, Zachariah said, “Let us cast lots, The casting
and he who shall be by lot indicated shall
take Mariam.” They consented, and brought the reeds
with which they wrote the Law, and each put his name
on his reed; then they gathered them together and
covered them with a turban. Then they said to one,
“ Put in thy hand and take out a reed ; he whose name
shall be written therein, shall bring up Mariam.” It
is said in the Komn, “ Thou wert not among them
when they cast their reeds ” (Sur. iii. 39).

So they consulted the lot thrice, and thrice the name
of Zachariah came forth. Then they knew that he had

214

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

greater rights over her, and he took her ; as it is said in
the Koran, “Zachariah had care of her” (Sur. v. 32).

He constructed in the temple a cell for Mariam, and
brought her up in it. He fixed upon it a lock, of
which he kept the key always with him. "When Mariam
was five years old, he made a sanctuary for her in
her cell, and there taught her the worship of Allah.

Zachariah was seventy years of age and had no
children. He asked a child of Allah, but his wife was
past the time of bearing. He had finally lost all hope
of a child, and had ceased to pray for one. All his
fatherly affection was given to Mariam, whom he brought
up till she was twelve years old. None other than
Zachariah had access to her. He opened the door once
by day and once by night, gave her to eat and drink,
and instructed her in worship.

One day Zachariah opened the door and found with
Mary, though it was winter, fruits and other produce
of summer. It is said in the Koran, “Each time
that Zachariah entered, he found food with her” (Sur.
iii. 32).

Allah sent to her in winter firuits of summer, that
Zachariah might have no suspicion with respect to
Mariam. For if it had been fruits of the season,
terrestrial fruits, Zachariah might have thought that
some one had had access to her by stratagem and
brought her these fruits. But seeing huits that existed
not in the earth in this season, he suspected no one,
and understood that they came from Allah. He said
to Mariam, “ Whence comes this ? ” She answered, “ It
comes from Allah, for Allah nourishes whom He wills'
without measure” (Sur. iii. 32). Zachariah under-
stood that Allah alone could give these fruits at this
epoch. He observed this appearance for one or two

THE TRADITIONS OE THE MOSQUE.

215

days, and h.e was struck with, this thought, “ If Allah
can produce in the winter season the fruits of summer,
He can cause me to beget a child, though I be hopeless
thereof.” He began to pray with a free heart, and asked
of Allah that He would give him a child, as it is
recorded in the Koran (Sur. v. 33).

It is said in the Koran, “ Recite the mercy of thy
Lord toward his servant Zachariah when he Birth of
invoked his Lord with a secret invocation ”

(Sur. Xix. 1-2). Zachariah.

He prayed in secret, because he and his wife were
old, and they were ashamed to ask Allah publicly for
children and to tell their friends. He prayed in secret,
saying, “My bones are weakened, and my head shines
with whiteness ; I have never been deceived in the
prayers I have addressed to Thee. I fear my nephews
who shall come after me ” (Sur. iii. 5).

He signified by his nephews the children of Israel.
He had no property that he should fear they would
take away his heritage ; but when a prophet dies
without leaving a successor, his people alter his reli-
gion and abandon the Book of Allah, Therefore he
said, “ Give me an heir coming from Thee, who may
inherit from me and from the family of Yakoub ; and
O Lord, cause him to be pleasing to Thee” (Sur. v. 6).

Allah sent Gabriel to announce to him the good
news. Zachariah prayed in the sanctuary. Gabriel
spoke to him with a loud voice, as it is said in the
Koran, “The angels called him while he prayed in
the sanctuary : Allah announces Yahya to thee ” (Sur.
iii- 33-34)-

Again it is said, “ O Zachariah ! we announce to thee
a son, whose name shall be Yahya. We have given him
this name that none have yet borne ” (Sur. xix. y-S).

2i6

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM:. '

AllaH gave him the name Yahya because his parents
were aged people, as if he had received life from two
that were dead. Then Allah described to him Yahya,
saying, “ He shall confirm the Word of Allah ; he shall
be a lord, chaste, and a prophet of the number of the
just ” (Sur. in. 34).

Allah gave the name of lord to no prophet but to
Yahya. In the commentaries it is said that the mean-
ing of the word is clement. Allah saith, “ I have made
him gentle that he may remove from my creatures
their ills and their pains, that he may show gentleness
and become great; for none become great except by
gentleness ; and greatness rests on gentleness and
patience.” Allah saith, “ I have made him chaste, so
that Yahya shall have no commerce with any women,
because he shall know that men are destroyed by
women. He shall he removed from women that he
may not contract this habit, and he shall have no
carnal need ; however strong the desire in him, he
shall surmount it.”

Hearing these words, Zachariah was astonished, and
said to Gabriel, “ Whence shall I have a child ? Old
age hath reached me and my wife is barren ” (Sur. iii.
35). Gabriel answered: “Thus Allah doeth as He
wills.” Then Zachariah demanded a sign. And he
said, “ The sign that thou askest shall be that thou
shalt not speak to men for three days except by sign ”

(v- 36)-

Allah did not approve this demand of Zachariah.
He said to him, “With this announcement of my
messenger and of my angel thou dost still demand a
sign ? ” Allah took away his speech from him, but
hindered him not from pronouncing the name of Allah
and praying, as it is said in the Koran, “ Pronounce

THE TKADITIONS OE THE MOSQUE.

317

the name of God and His praises without ceasing,
morning and evening,”

And again : “ Thou shalt not speak to men dur-
ing three nights, though thou hast no infirmity”
(Sur. xix. ii).

Zachariah was Imaum in the sanctuary of Ailia.
When the time of prayer arrived and they were all
assembled, he came out of the sanctuary and signed to
them to go and pray, as it is recorded in the Koran,
“ And Zachariah went out of the sanctuary and made
signs to them” (v. 12).

When Yahya was born, Allah granted him the
quality of prophet, even during the lifetime of his
father, and before the prophetic mission of Isa, who
only obtained it after Yahya. It is said that Yahya
was among the number of prophets to whom Allah
granted a book. For it is said in the Koran, “ O
Yahya ! take this book with firmness.” Others say
that the hook meant is the Law (v. 13).

From his infancy Allah distinguished Yahya : “ We
have given him wisdom from his infancy,” that he
might know Allah and the prophets of Allah, and that
he might confirm the mission of Isa while yet in his
infancy.

“We have given him clemency and purity. He was
neither violent nor disobedient” (v. 13, 14).

Then Allah blessed him and gave him salutation,
saying, “ Peace be on him, the day of his birth, and
the day of his death, and the day that he shall rise ”
(v. 15).

The chronicler concludes this recital with the obser-
vation that it would not have been suitable to omit
the story of a servant so great, praised by Allah in
the Koran in terms so distinguished from his birth to

2i8

THE RISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

the day when he shall appear before Him. Yahya is
purely a Mussulman prophet.

There is not agreement as to the epoch of the birth
of Isa. Some say that it was six months after that of
Yahya ; others say that it was three years later. The
conception of Mariam and the birth of Isa are in the
Koran mentioned in these terms ; “ Remember in the
Book, Mariam, when she retired from her family to a
place exposed to the sun.^ She hid herself behind a
veil. We sent to her our spirit, who appeared to her
as a perfect man” (Sur. xix. 16-17).

In the Commentaries it is said that Mariam was not
of mature age until she was in her thirteenth yeai'.
Gabriel was sent that he might breathe in her sleeve,
so that she might conceive.

Imram was dead, they say, at the time of the conse-
Yussufthe oration of Mariam. Imram had a brother
Carpenter. Yakoub, SOU of Matau, who had a son in like
manner consecrated. He was called Yussuf, and after
the death of his father, had been brought up, like
Mariam, in the temple. Zachariah confided the service
of the temple to this cousin of Mariam, who having
attained the age of thirteen years, learned the trade of
carpenter. He served in the temple, and there did all
the necessary carpenter’s work.

Yussuf alone was suffered by Zachariah to enter the
TheAunun- Cell of Mariam ; he carried water thither that
omtion. might wash her head immediately before

the visit of Gabriel. She had finished washing, she
was purified, and covered with her garment when
Gabriel appeared in the form of Yussuf the carpenter.
She had seen no man except Zachariah and Yussuf.
Thinking that this was the latter, she said, “ I implore
1 Hence, says A1 Beid^wi, tlie custom of Orientation.

THE TEADITIOHS OE THE MOSQUE.

219

the protection of Allah against thee, if thou fearest
him” (v. 18).

Gabriel, seeing that she feared, said to her, “I am
the envoy of thy Lord, to give thee a holy son ” (v.
19). “ That is, a son pure from all taint. AJlah hath

created him in thy womb.”

When she understood that it was not a man who
spake with her, she became calm, and answered, say-
ing, “ How should I have a son, seeing that no man
hath ever touched me, and that I am not a sinner? ”

He answered, “ Thus shall it be ; thy Lord hath said.
It is easy for me ” (v. 20, 21).

Gabriel said, “Allah hath said: I will create this
child without father, and I will make of him a prophet.
It is the decree of the Lord that causes thee to give
birth to a child without intercourse with a man. Allah
hath called him Isa and Masich. When he shall be
bom, give him this name.” It is said that Gabriel
spoke to her further, as it is said in the Koran, “ Allah
announces to thee His word; he shall be called the
Masich, Isa, son of Mariam ” (Sur. iii. 40).

He was created, for AUah said, “ Be,” and he was,
apart from human generation. The name Masich is a
symbol; he shall so be called because whenever he
shall place his hand on a sick person, there shall be
instant cure, and the blind man shall recover his sight.

Then Gabriel added, “ He shah, be illustrious in this
world and^ the next. He shall be of the famihars of
God, and he shall speak to man in his cradle and in
his full age, and he shall be of the number of the just.
Allah shall teach him the Book of Wisdom, the Law,
and the Gospel; and he shall be His apostle to the
children of Israel” (Sur. iii. 41, 43).

When Mariam heard, she believed in the word of

220

THE RISE OF CHRISTEITDOM.

Allah and in the revelation that Allah had sent by the
mouth of Gabriel. She was convinced of its truth, and
kept no doubt in her heart. Allah hath praised her
in another place in the Koran, along with the believing
wife of Pharaoun, who became a martyr for the faith,
and was taken up living into Paradise : “ And Mariam,
the daughter of Imram, who preserved her chastity,
and into whose womb we breathed of our spirit, and
believed in the words of her Lord and his book, and
was of the devout and obedient” (Sur. Ixvi. 12).’-

When Gabriel had comforted the heai't of Mariam,
he breathed upon her by order of Allah, and Mariam
conceived of this pure breath, as it is said in the Koran,
“ Isa remained in the womb of his mother, and when
she prayed, he offered his praises to Allah.”

There are sectaries who pretend that Isa was the
Heresies illegitimate son of Yussuf and Mariam ; but
condemned by the above passage in
the Koran.

Isa was upon the earth an instrument of proof. He
proved men, and by him a great number of the un-
believers were cast into hell, both among those heretics
who have transgressed the bounds of belief, and among
those who beheve not at all.

The former have not understood the manner of the
conception of Mariam nor the true rank of Allah. There
axe three sects among them. Some say that Allah is
the third of three, the other two being Mariam and
Isa. Others pretend that AUah is Isa, son of Mariam.
He came down from heaven into the womb of Ma. na.Tn ,

^ The commentators ascribe to the Prophet the saying that there had
been many perfect among men, but only four among women : Asia, wife
of Pbaraoun ; Mariam, daughter of Imram ; Khadijah, the Prophet’s first
wife, and Fatima, his daughter.

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

221

went forth, and was shown to men under the human
form. Then he returned to heaven. This their opinion
has sprung from ignorance of the true power of God.

The belief of Islam is this : that Isa was in this world
by the power of God and by His order. For The creed of
Allah had ordained that he should exist in
the womb of his mother without the aid of a father ;
and He was ! Even so with every other creation of
which he said, “ Be,” and it was. Even so He created
the heaven and the earth, men and angels. For all
that God hath created or will create. He has no need
of basis nor of model. Thus He created Adam from
dust, without father or mother, as it is written in the
Koran, “ Isa is before Allah, even as Adam. He formed
him from the dust, then He said, ‘ Be ! ’ and he was ”
(Sur. iii. 52).

When the pregnancy of Mariam was far advanced,
she w’as ashamed to show herself to Zachariah, The Birth
and told Yussuf, her cousin, of the message
she had received. And Yussuf, knowing that no man
had approached her, beheved her word. As her hour
drew near, she went out alone from the holy place and
the city. She directed her steps to a withered palm-
tree, whose leaves had fallen and whose branches were
broken. She sat down beneath it, as it is written in
the Koran, “ The pains of birth came upon her under
the trunk of a palm-tree ” (Sur. xix. 23).

When she had brought forth Isa, pain and shame
caused her to utter these words, “Would to God that
I had died before this, and that I had been utterly
forgotten ! ” And a voice beneath cried, “Be not
grieved, for AUah hath provided a stream beneath thee ;
and shake the trunk of the palm-tree, and ripe dates
shall fall for thee ” (vers. 24-25).

222

THE EISE OF CHEISTENHOM.

AllaE caused a spring of water to burst forth on the
spot, that Mariam might wash herself and the babe.
Then she shook the tree, and immediately dates
sprung forth, ripened, and feU. She ate, and recovered
strength. It is from Allah that the custom of giving
dates to the newly accouch^es has been learned.

And Gabriel said, “If thou see any man, say, ‘ Verily,
I have vowed a fast unto the Merciful One : wherefore
I wiU by no means speak to a man this day.’ ” So
she brought the child to her people. They said, “ O
Mariam ! now thou hast done a strange thing. O sister
of Harun ! thy father was not a bad man, neither was
thy mother a Wlot” (Sur. xix. 28-29).

She is here called sister of Harun, by way of ex-
planation and reproach, because her brother Harun
was a pious man. It is also said that there is an
allusion to Harun, brother of Musa, because the father
of Mariam descended from Suleiman, son of David,
who descended from Harun. Even as when one is
designated by the name of his tribe, “ brother of
Temim, or of Aad,” Mariam is thus designated as
member of the tribe of Harun. According to another
account, Harun was a perverse man in the midst of the
children of Israel, and they reproached her with like-
ness to him.

Mariam answered not, but pointed to Isa, as it is
Isa Speaks in written in the Koran. And they said, “ How
the Cradle, Speak to an infant in the cradle ? ”

And he spoke, saying, “ I am the servant of Allah ; He
hath given me the Book, and hath made me a prophet,
and hath made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and
hath commanded me prayer and alms so long as I
shall live; and made me dutiful to my mother, and
hath not made me proud or unhappy. And peace on

THE TEADITIOHS OF THE MOSQUE.

223

me the day wherein I was bom, and the day wherein I
shall die, and the day wherein I shall be raised to life ”
(Sur. xis. 30 seq).

It was thns that Allah caused the child to speak, to
show his prophetic character; and Isa thus purged
Mariam, Zachariah, and Yussuf the carpenter from the
accusation which weighed upon them. He established
first his quality of Servant of Allah, and so gave
the lie to those heretics concerning the three things
which they say of him, and which are not suitable to
Allah. Then he said that Allah had given him the
Book, that is, had taught him the Gospel. When his
mother prayed, he, in the womb of his mother, recited
the Gospel and addressed praises to Allah. Finally,
he said, “Allah hath made me Prophet, though I be
still a child.” None had before been prophet in his
infancy. Then he added, “I am blessed, &c., that
men may leam of me knowledge and wisdom ; He has
given me the Way of Religion, that they may find the
right path,” It is written, “Such was Isa, son of
Mariam, according to the Word of Truth, of which they
doubt. It is not for AUah to have any son; Allah
forbid I When He decrees a thing. He only saith unto
it. Be, and it is ! ” (Sur. six. 36).

The holiness of Allah comports not with wife, nor
with children, nor partners.

It is related that at the moment of the birth of Isa,
all the idols in the earth were overthrown TKeFmof
and fell to the earth. And all the daemons
of the earth gathered about Eblis and said to him,
“ There has passed an event upon the earth, we know
not what it is.” Eblis undertook to travel on the earth,
and marched three days and three nights, till he came
near Isa, who was just bom. He understood that this

224

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

was the event, and would exert his power on Isa. But
the angels repulsed him ; for the mother of Mariam
had placed Mariam and her son under the keeping of
Allah against the Divs, saying on the day of the birth
of Maaiam, “ I put her under Thy protection, her and
her posterity, against Satan, driven away with stones ”
(Sur. iii. 31).^

“Our prophet,” the Chronicle adds, “hath said, No
child sees the day without being subject to Eblis, except
Isa, son of Mariam.” .

Then Eblis said to the dsemons, “ The event is that
a child is bom to a woman without concourse of a
father. He shall be prophet of Allah and illustrious.
If to-day all the idols of the earth are fallen, know that
later this child shall procure us joy.” They said,
“ How ? ” And Eblis said, “ Many men shall be infidel
because of him, and shall go to heU.”

Like other prophets distinguished by Allah, — Ibra-
, him, Musa, and Mohammed, who had to

Flight of

Mariam with undergo flight and exile, — Isa was destined
to flee. His mother Mariam took him and
transported him from his birthplace to a place situated
a month’s journey from the holy place, in Egypt, and
caused him to dwell there thirty years. Then he
returned to Syria, Palestine, and made his message
known to men, and taught them the Gospel, and the
precepts of the GospeL

The cause of the flight was this : Isa was bom after
Alexander, in the time of the “ kings of the provinces.”
All the lands situated beyond the Tigris, as far as Egypt,
Yemen, and the Maghreb, were under the dominion of
the Greeks, as the Chronicle has told. At the epoch

l The legend is here explicative or setiologio of the custom of the pil-
grimage of Mecca, of throwing stones at the devil in the valley of Mina.

THE TEADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE

225

of Isa there was a Greek king named Augnstiis. Some
say that he was a Homan and emperor of Home. He
reigned fifty-six years, and in the forty-second year of
his reign Isa was born.

There was in Palestine, Syria, a king appointed by
Augustus named Herod. He treated with kindness
the children of Israel, the temple and the servants of
the temple, and favoured Zachariah. "NATien Herod
heard of the birth of Isa, son of a virgin, he was aston-
ished. Ten days later there came men from Syria to
the holy place to see Isa. They were learned astrolo-
gers, who had found in their hooks that on such a day
a child, of maiden born, would see the light. They
came, bringing gold, myrrh, and incense ; and Herod
sent and inquhed of them the reason of their coming.
According to another account, they had been sent by
a king of one of the towns of Syria, who had read in
the stars ; or it was a king of Persia, read in the books
of Daniel, who had sent them. Herod inquired the
significance of their presents, and they said, “ Gold is
the most precious of aU the jewels of the world, even
as this child is above all creatures of the world. Myrrh
is a cure for all kinds of wounds, and this child shall
cure wounds, maladies, and infirmities by his efl&cacious
prayer with Allah. Incense is an aroma the odour and
smoke of which rise in the air to heaven, a property that
belongs to no other perfume. When this child shall
be great, Allah shall raise him to heaven. These three
objects then are his symbols.”

Then Herod was jealous of Isa, and resolved, when
these men were gone, to slay him. Mariam was warned
of the design, some say by a divine inspiration, others
by a revelation, an angel having brought her the order
to remove Isa from the holy place. She mounted an

p

226

THE EISE OE CHEISTEHDOM.

ass, took Isa before her, and caused Yussuf the car-
penter, her cousin, to accompany her. She quitted
Palestine, passed the frontier of Syria, and repaired to
Egypt. She took up her abode in one of the villages
of that land, and brought up Isa with great care. It
is said that she and Yussuf gleaned ears of corn.
Mariam intrusted Isa to no one, and sometimes gleaned
having him attached to her back.

The village where they lived, seated on a lofty hill.
The Bearing had many springs and was full of delights,
of Isa. Some say that it was in Syria, in the Ghawtah
of Damascus, in the midst of the sand, — one of
four places celebrated in the book Masdleh for
delights. The Koran says, “We appointed the son
of Mariam and his mother for a sign; and we pre-
pared for them an abode in an elevated place of
the earth, sure and provided with springs ” (Sur.
sxiii. 52).*

The Chronicle comments: “AUah said: As Mariam
and her son had no safety at the holy place, because
of the fear which the king inspired them with, I have
given them surety in a delightful village, full of springs
and abundance.”

Mariam educated Isa till he was twelve years old.
There was in the village a farmer who was kind to the
poor. Each evening the poor ate in his house, and
often many passed the night there. His house was
never empty of poor. Mariam and Isa were often there,
and the farmer showed them kindness, saying, “ It is
a strange woman and a young orphan.” And Mariam
was freed from care with respect to him.

1 The commentators cannot fix the topography ; whether the hill he at
Ailia, Damascus, Ramleh, in Palestine, or Egypt. It is the religious ideal
which absorbs thought

THE TR^iDITIOXS OF THE MOSQUE.

227

The first miracle that Isa wrought when he had
attained the age of twelve was this. One dav ,
the treasure of the farmer had been robbed, Mimcie of
and knowing not to wbom to impute the theft,
he was greatly grieved, as was also Mariam. Seeing
his mother in sadness, Isa inquired the reason. She
said, “ This farmer, who treats us with so much kindness,
is afflicted by the loss of his goods.” Isa went and found
him and said, “ Bring all the poor who have passed the
night in thy house.” The farmer did so. Among them
there was a blind man, who, apart from this infirmity,
was in good health, and a lame man, who also was in
good health. Isa bade the lame man seat himself on
the neck of the blind man. He did so, and the blind
man was bidden to rise. The blind man said, “I am
too weak to rise.” Isa said, “How couldst thou rise
yester evening 1 ” Then he made him rise, and said,
“ Yester evening thou didst thus : This lame man tied
a cord between his shoulders, and put the end of the coil
between the hands of the blind man, who dragged the
other to the place of the treasure, where he took the
money ; then he carried it in the same way out of the
house, and himself went in again.” Both confessed
the deed, and restored the money to the farmer, who
was filled with joy, and offered a part of it to Mariam.
As she would not accept, he said to her, “ Give it
to thy son.” But he would not accept it. Then the
farmer said, “ Remain, thou and thy son, in my house,
and go not elsewhere.” Mariam consented, and remained
with Isa in the house of the farmer, who made Isa his
treasurer.

A second miracle which the farmer saw Isa work
was the following. He had made a great feast to cele-
brate the wedding of his son, and had invited a large

228

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

number of guests. At this epoch the drinking of wine
was permitted, only later Allah had forbidden it in the
Koran. After the wedding the farmer received one
day some guests, and the wine failed. He was vexed,
and Isa seeing this, went into the house where there
were twelve pitchers, passed his hand over each and
went his way. And all the pitchers over which Isa
had passed his hand were filled with wine. Thus each
day he wrought a new miracle till he had attained the
age of thirty years.

Then King Herod died, and his son Archelaus suc-
ceeded him. He was succeeded by his son Herod,
who is called Herod the younger, while his grandfather
is called Herod the elder. When Isa had completed
thirty years, Allah taught him the Gospel entirely, and
instructed him in knowledge and wisdom, and he laid
down the precepts of the Gospel and of rehgion. Isa
wrought many miracles in Syria in the midst of man.
Allah said to him in the revelation, “Eetum to the
holy place and call men to Allah, that they may believe
in thy quahty of prophet. Preach to them the Law,
the Gospel, and my religion, that they may receive it.”
So Isa and Mariam returned to the holy place at Ailia.
At the time they had quitted Ailia, Zachariah had
been slain.

When Herod had heard of the story of the birth of
The Murder Isa, and that Mariam had fled into Syria, the
andthe'pr^ children of Israel said to Zachariah, “Thou
prophet, but thou art become infidel,
Taliya. foj. thou hast been guilty of fornication with
Mariam; and for fear that she should tell us, thou
hast sent her into Syria and Egypt.” Tlien they would
slay him, and told Herod, saying, “ This man must be
slain, because he has committed fornication with

THE TRADITIONS OF THE HOSQUE.

229

Mariam.” Now the king sought Isa to slay him, and
Avhen they told him that Zachariah had removed Isa
and Mariam, he ordered that Zachariah should be pur-
sued and put to death. Zachariah fled in the direc-
tion of Syria to rejoin Mariam. The children of Israel
pursued him. At the gate of Ailia there was a hollow
tree ; Zachariah hid himself therein, and when his
pursuers came, they did not perceive that he had gone
in. Then Eblis appeared to them and said, “ Zachariah
is in this tree ; cut it with a saw ; you shall see if he
is therein, and you shall cut him with the tree ; if he
is not therein, you shall have no great damage.” They
found his reasoning just, and brought a saw, and sawed
the tree and Zachariah in two. His blood flowed.
None knew of this event. Some say that Allah had
given the tree the command to open, that Zachariah
might go in, and then to close again. MTien the tree
closed, Eblis seized a part of the cloak of Zachariah,
so that it remained outside the cleft. When the others
came, they recognised by this sign that Zachariah was
in the tree. But this account is not exact. Eor the
same God who could dispose the tree that he might
enter, could have taken from Ebhs the part of the
cloak.

iifter the death of Zachariah, Yahya remained hidden
tiU the death of Herod. AUah gave him the quality
of prophet, and he fulfilled his mission among the
people. When he had fulfilled thirty years, the children
of Israel recognised him as a prophet. He taught the
Law and called men to Isa, preaching to them the
coming of Isa, who should work miracles and bring
from heaven a Book and a Law. When Isa came, the
first who believed in him and his mission was Yahya,
as it is said in the Koran, “Verily Allah promiseth

23 °

THE EISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

tliee Yahya, who shall confirm the Word from God ”
(Sur. iii. 34)-

When Allah had caused Isa to enter again the holy
city among the children of Israel, he con-
pbttfJomoe ferred upon him the quality of prophet and
gave him the Gospel. Isa went into the
temple and called the people to Allah and recited to
them the Gospel. The first who believed on him was
Yahya. Isa said to them as it is recorded in the Koran,
“I come to you with a sign from Allah.” They
answered, “What is this sign?” He said, “I will
make from clay the figure of a bird; I will breathe
thereon, and by the permission of Allah it shall become
a true bird ” (Sur. iii. 43). They said, “ Do it ! ”
Then Isa made them a bat, which is visible every morn-
ing and night, and which up to that time had not
existed in the world. They formed this figure of clay,
and Isa breathed thereon, and the bird flew into the
air. It is the strangest of all birds. While others fly
by means of their wings, this has none upon its whole
body. It is composed only of flesh and bone, yet it
flies. The people said to Isa, “ Hast thou no other
sign ? ” He said, “ I cure the blind from birth, and
the lepers.” Had Isa cured only ordinary blindness,
he would have done the work of a simple physician ;
it would not have been the work of a prophet. But
Isa cured the blind from birth, which the physicians,
by their confession, cannot cure, and thus he showed
his quality of prophet ; and so with the leprosy, which
' the physicians are impotent to cure.

■ ^hen the people said, “ Hast thou another sign ? ”

Eaisingof by the order of

Seiii from AUah : whom would ye that I should raise ? ”

the Deaa. ^ _

ihey inquired who was he that had been

THE TRADITIOHS OF THE MOSQUE.

231

longest dead ; for they saw not who could have died
before Noe and his sons. In the midst of the moun-
tains of Palestine there is a valley in which was buried,
as they had found in the Law, Sem, son of Noe, the an-
cestor of the children of Israel. The children of Israel
said to Isa, “The tomb of Sem, son of Noe, is in this
valley ; he is our ancestor ; raise him.” Isa stood at the
end of the valley surrounded by the people. He cried
with a loud voice, “ Sem, son of Noe, arise, by the
command of Allah ! ” Then the earth opened where he
was buried ; Sem raised his head and shook the earth
from his hands and his face. His beard was all white ;
none had had the beard white before Ibrahim. The
children of Israel said, “ O Isa ! it is not Sem, son of
Noe, for his heard is white.” Isa spake thus to him,
“ Who art thou 1 ” He answered, “ I am Sem, son of
Noe.” Then Isa said, “ Who am I ?” The other said,
“ Thou art Isa, son of Mariam, prophet of Allah.” Isa
continued, “Wherefore is thy beard white, since in
thy time none was white, and that all died having their
hair black 1 ” Sem answered, “ I also died having
black hair ; but when I heard thy voice, I thought that
it was that of Israfil, and that it was the day of the
last judgment, and then my hair became white.”

Isa said, “ Wilt thou, O Sem, that I ask of God that
He will grant thee to hve with me ? ” Sem said, “ 0
prophet of Allah ! though I should live yet a long time,
I must die at last. I remember still the bitterness of
death; I would not know it a second time. Ask of
Allah that He will cause me to return to the earth in
my former state.” Isa prayed, and Sem disappeared in
the tomb, and the earth covered him as before. Not
being able to deny the event, there were those who
said that Sem was raised, hut that he remained only one

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

232

hour seated in his tomb, without speaking; that he
fell hack afterwards, and that the earth covered him as
before.

Another miracle wrought by Isa was this. He said,
“I will teU you what you have eaten and what you
have kept in your houses.” He said to each one,
“ Thou hast eaten yester evening such a thing, and there
has remained so much.” He added, “These things are
signs for ever if ye are believers. I come to confirm
the Law, and I make lawful for you certain things
which are forbidden ” (Sur. iii. 43-44).

Among the things forbidden in the Law and that
Isa permitted was mutton-fat.

It is said in the Koran, “We have forbidden them
all animals having a hoof, and of bullocks and sheep
we forbade them the fat of both,” &c. (Sur. vi. i<!i7).
But this was permitted by the Law of the Gospel;
and when our Prophet appeared, he also permitted
what was permitted by the Law of the Gospel. Another
interdiction of the Law which was abolished by the
Gospel was that of fishing on the Sabbath-day. It was
forbidden to work on the Sabbath-day, but Isa, accord-
ing to the Law of the Gospel, permitted it, and after
him our Prophet also.^

When Isa had wrought all these miracles before the
people, who saw and heard them, they remained infidel
and would not believe. They said, “All tliis is of
magic.” It is said in the Koran, “ Isa, son of Mariam,
said : 0 children of Israel ! I am the apostle of God,
sent to you to confirm the Law that was before me,
and to announce an apostle who shall come after me,
and whose name shall be Ahmed. And when he pro-

* See Suiah Ixii. 6 seq. The allusion appears to be simply to the Friday,
the Moslem “ day of assembly

THE TEADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

233

duced evident signs, they said, It is evident magic”
(Sur. Ixi. 6).^

Abd-allah-ibn- Abbas says, “ No prophet has come to
the perfect fulfilment of his mission without having
announced the coming of Mohammed and promised it.”
In the Commentaries it is recorded that Isa remained
thus two years among the people, and that he accom-
plished his divine mission, working miracles and deeds
of wisdom. He was wont to travel, and never remained
two nights in the same place ; none knew of his house,
his hut, his horse, or his ass.

After he had made known his mission to the people
of Palestine, and none believed on him, Isa, because
of their unbelief, abandoned them, and went from
town to town in Syria, Egypt, Yemen, as far as the
Maghreb, and, leaving no town on one side, called men
to Allah.

At first, on quitting the holy place at Ailia, none
was with him except his twelve disciples. The Twelve
They were fullers, called in Arabic gappar.

They are also called hawdri, “because they whiten
garments.” The day that Isa perceived that the
people of Ailia, in spite of the miracles they had
seen, remained infidel, like King Herod, he left the
city and turned to Allah, seeking some one who might
recognise and believe in him, and he said, “ Who will
he my helpers unto God ? ” (Sur. iii. 45). The disciples
said, “We will he the helpers of God” (Sur. iii. 46).

Then these men left their trade of fulling, and went

1 There can be no doubt that the Moslem doctors are sincere when they
insist that the passage in the Fourth Gospel of the Church (John xvi. 7 )
concerning the coming of the Paraclete — the Periclyte, as they insist the
word should be — ^refers to their Prophet Mohammed ; and it is one among
many incidental proofs of the priority of the Koran over the Kew Testa-
ment

234

THE EISE OP CHEISTENDOM.

■with Isa. In every town there were persons who
believed, and others who were infidel. The believei's
followed Isa, but the disciples occupied the first rank.
It is said of them in the Koran, “ 0 ye who believe,
be the helpers of God,” i.e., be subject to Mohammed
and protect the religion of Allah, “even as Isa, son
of Mariam, said to the apostles ; Who will be my
helpers unto Allah ? And the apostles answered : We
will be the helpers of Allah” (Sur. Ixi. 14).

“Do as they did, who were less than you,” says the
chronicler. “ A part of the children of Israel believed,
and a part believed not; but we strengthened those
who believed above their enemy; wherefore they be-
came victorious.”

The Chronicle states that Tabari has recorded none
of the stories relative to Isa. He has simply said, in
reference to his prophetic action, that Isa came to the
children of Israel in the quality of a prophet ; that he
remained three years among them ; that none believed
on him ; that he was seized to be put to death, and that
AUah raised him to heaven.

But the narratives of Isa, his miraculous and pro-
phetic acts, are too remarkable to be' thus curtailed.
There are many in the Koran, and the others which
have been recounted have been taken from the Com-
mentaries. The following history is well known ; it
is found in the Koran, and is too admired by men to
be omitted after that Allah has related it in the Koran.

It is recorded in the Koran : — “ The apostles said :

O Isa, son of Mariam ! is thy Lord able
SeTabif to cause a table to descend unto us from
freaven % ” (Sur. v. 1 1 2).

Wherever Isa went upon the earth, he was
accompanied by a multitude of believers, and also by

THE TEADITIOKS OF THE MOSQUE.

235

a multitude of unbelievers, who followed him to see
his miracles. One day, going to the west, he came
into a country of Egypt called Andalos. The men had
no provisions and were hungiy. They found the
apostles, and said to them, “ Speak to Isa, that he ask
of Allah to send food from heaven, that we may satisfy
ourselves, and at the same time there may be a miracle.”
The apostles spoke to Isa. He answered, “ Fear Allah,
if ye are believers.” They said, “We desire to eat
and that our hearts may be revived; we shall know
that thou hast spoke the truth, and we shall bear
witness thereof” (Sur. v. 113).

Then Isa prayed, saying, “ O Lord, cause a furnished
table to descend unto us from heaven” (Sur. v. 114).
The word maide in the text of the Koran designates
a table or cloth on which bread and other food is
placed. Isa added, “Let it be a feast-day for the
first and the last among us, and a sign from Thee.
Feed us, for Thou art the best provider.”

The commentators explain the words “first” and
“ last ” by “ our time and our people and our co-reli-
gionaries who shall be after us.” Allah said, “ I will
cause it to descend to you ; but whosoever among you
shall disbelieve hereafter, I will punish him with a
chastisement the like of which no creature hath felt ”
(Sur. V. 1 15).

Isa announced this to the disciples, and caused men
to know this condition. Next day all the people were
gathered together, and Isa prayed. Men lifted their
eyes to heaven. Then a table appeared in the air, and
came down before Isa and his disciples. It was covered
with a cloth. Isa stretched forth his hand and seized
the cloth. Twelve white loaves were placed upon it,
according to the number of the disciples, a great fish

236

THE EISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

fried, salt, and vegetables. According to Abd-allah-
ibn-Abbas, there were all the kinds of vegetables in
the world, except the porrum, garlic, and onion. The
men sat and ate, and were satisfied. When one ate
a morsel of bread or of fish or of vegetable, an equal
quantity always replaced that which had been taken.
In the evening, after all had eaten, the table returned
to heaven. This day was a Sunday. The morrow, at
the moment of breakfast, the table came down again ;
aU ate, and with the evening it returned to heaven.
And so on the third day ; then it returned not. Among
these men there were unbelievers who had shared in
the meals, and who said, “ This is of magic, which lasts
three days and not more.” Then they slept the night,
and on the morrow, when they rose, they were changed
into swine and entirely disfigured.

According to another story, no table came down
from heaven, but the miracle passed thus. One day
Isa said to the apostles, “Have you nothing to eat?”
One of them, named Simeon, offered him two fried fish
and five cakes. Isa divided them into small pieces, and
Allah sent his benediction, so that all the people ate
thereof and were satisfied, and each had food during
three days. In spite of that, the fish and the cakes
were not diminished. Then some remained unbeliev-
ing, and Allah changed them into swine. So they lived
for three days, then they died ; for this metamorphosis
is a chastisement of Allah. He who is smitten by it
cannot live, and has no posterity.

Some theologians deny this event, and say the
table did not come down from heaven. When the
apostles had demanded it of Isa, and Isa had prayed,
and caused them to know the condition of the severe
chastisement if they remained unbelieving, they

THE TEADITIOHS OF THE MOSQUE.

237

answered, “ We have no need of the table, for we are
believers, and faithful to our belief.”

The Chronicle here digresses in order to narrate
the story of another metamorphosis in the
olden time, near to that of David and Sulei- tue ilw of
man — of certain villagers who had sinned
against the law of the Sabbath, and were changed into
apes (Sur. xvii. 163).

Not only had the fish enjoj’ment of sabbatic repose,
but stags and other beasts of chase, when they enter
the sacred teixitory of Mecca, are safe and friendly
with man. Here is an instruction from Allah. The
animals are inspired by him.

The transgression of the Sabbath took place when
there was no prophet in Syria, but there were wise
men who exhorted the sinners ; and occasion is here
taken to dwell upon the duty of mutual exhortation
among believers to the doing of good and the avoiding
of evil (Sur. ix. 72).

To return to the narrative of Tabaii.

He says that Isa remained three years among the
peaple. But in the books which treat of the narratives
of the prophets it is said that he remained only two
years. Towards the end of his life he returned to the
holy place of Ailia, after the event of the table coming
down from heaven. The people resolved to slay him,
and gained the friendship of the king of Ailia, Herod
the younger, who followed the rehgion of the Greeks.
They said to him, “ Isa is a magician who deceives the
people.” Herod gave them orders to slay him. Then
they sought to seize Isa, but he hid himself ; they could
not find him in any house.

One night he was with his disciples in a house, and
said to them, “ Pray this night for me.” But they feU

238

THE KISE OF CHEISTENDOH.

into a heavy sleep. Isa said, “Ye have delivered me
to my enemies. It shall come to pass also that ye shall
deny me and betray me.”

The next day, one of his disciples, Simeon, went
The Betrayal out. The people Seized him, saying, “It is
of Isa. companion of Isa. Show us where Isa is.”

Simeon said, “I have forsaken Isa, and am not of
his friends.” He denied and became infidel. Then
they seized another disciple who had gone out,
and said to him, “ Show us where is Isa, or we will
put thee to death.” The disciple said, “ If ye give me
a reward, I will tell you where he is.” They consented,
and this disciple sold Isa for thirty dirhems, and took
them to the house where Isa was. The people seized
him, and tied him head and feet, and the disciples fled.
The people said to Isa, “Thou hast practised magic
before men, and thou hast said that thou raisest the
dead ; wherefore now dost thou not deliver us from the
hands of men 1 ” They dragged him to a place where
they had made ready a cross to crucify him, and a
great number of the people gathered around him.
They had a chief named Isoua, Avho was also among
them. When they would bind Isa to the cross, Allah
removed him from their sight, and gave the form and
aspect of Isa to Isoua, their chief.

When Isa disappeared, they were astonished, and

Crucifixion of employs magic and has escaped

Isoua in Isa’s fl-om our eyes. Wait a little and the effect
will soon be past, and he will reappeai*; for
the magic has no duration.” When they looked, they
saw Isoua entirely like to Isa, and they seized him ;
and he said, “I am Isoua.” They answered, “Thou
liest ; thou art Isa, and thou didst escape our eyes by
magic ; now the magic is past, and thou hast become

THE TEADITIOHS OF THE SIOSQUE.

visible.” He protested in vain that ho vas Isoua ;
they slew him and bound him to the cross. As
for Isa, Allah raised him to heaven, as it is said in
the Koran, “They have not slain and have not cru-
cified him, but some one who resembled him” (Snr.
iv. 156).

Isoua remained on the cross for seven days. Each
night Mariam, the mother of Isa, came and wept at the
foot of the cross till morning. The eighth day Allah
caused Isa to come down from heaven to Mariam. Tliis
night Mariam saw him, and knew that he was not dead,
and her heart was consoled. Isa was that night in the
house of Mariam, and caused Yahya, son of Zachaviah,
to be called. The apostles had been at first of the
number twelve. One of them, Simeon, had denied Isa,
and another had sold him for thirty dirhems and had
delivered him to “ the Jews; ” there remained only ten.
Isa this night caused them to be sought for, but found
only seven. He inquired of them, “ Where is he from
among you who sold me for thirty dirhems and delivered
me to the Jews % ” They answered, “ He repented, and
knowing that he has committed a crime, has slain
himself.” Isa said, “ If Allah accepted his repentance,
he ought not to have slain himself; for there is no
sin which may not be repaired by the pardon of
Allah.”

Then Isa commanded Yahya and the seven disciples
to keep his faith and call men to Allah. He xhe seven
sent them each into a part of the world to
call men to Allah, to the belief of his mission, of his
religion and of the Gospel. He sent two
disciples to Kome and into Greece, one called r>rai.
Peter, the other Paul, and confided aU the West
to them. He sent another named Thomas to Babylon

240

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

and into Iraq, and confided to him all the East ;
Philip. another, Philip, to Kairouan ; another, John,
to Ephesus, whence were the “ people of the
cavern.” He ordered another to remain at Ailia with
James. Yahja, son of Zachariah ; his name was James.
He sent another into the Hedjaz towards Maghreb ;
Barthoio- name was Bartholomew. When Isa had

appointed these seven disciples ^ and Yahya
his successors, and had given them his commands, he
Ascension of hlessed Mai’iam, and towards dawn prayed
Allah to raise him to heaven. The heretics
to-day celebrate as a feast the night when Isa de-
scended and went up again to heaven. They burn
perfume and incense in great quantities in their houses
and in the churches.

The next day the apostles presented themselves in
the midst of the people and said, “ This night Isa de-
scended from heaven and commanded us to call men
to the belief of his prophetic mission.” The people
seized them, struck them, and detained them, making
them undergo violence that they might be forced to
deny Isa ; but the apostles refused. While Herod the
Tiberius and youuger reigned at Ailia, the king of Home
^mfse!' informed that among the children of

lierors. Israel a man had appeared named Isa, who
had wrought miracles before men, and who had
come fatherless into the world ; that the Jews had
killed and crucified him, and that now they tormented
his companions to make them deny him. The king
of Home came with a numerous army to Ailia, and
slew a great number of the people. He delivered the
-apostles from their hands, believed in the religion of

i la the work of Kessseus, cited hy Sike, p. 691, the names of twelve
disciples are given.

THE TEADITIOHS OE THE MOSQUE.

241

Isa, and took with, him those of them whom Isa had ap-
pointed his representatives at Home. He commanded
the others to traverse the world and call men to the re-
ligion of Isa, as he had ordained. Herod, king of Ailia,
also accepted the religion of Isa, and followed the words
of the two apostles whom Isa had appointed at Ailia,
and many men beheved in Isa and his faith, which
spread in Syria.

The king of Rome took the wood on which they said
Isa was crucified and made of it a Qiblah. _ „

/-ti • • Cl Cross

Ohnstians when they pray place it before them, becomes a
pretending that it is the wood on which Isa was
crucified, and that from thence Allah raised him to heaven.
For this reason they show reverence for this wood.

But their pretension is not based on fact. For it
was not Isa who was crucified on the wood, but some
one who resembled him ; and Allah raised Isa to heaven
before he was upon the cross, as it is related in the
Koran (Sur. iv. 156).

When the religion of Isa was greatly spread abroad,
Eblis made his appearance, and on a feast- „ .

day, when a great number of men, followers concerning
of Isa, were gathered in the temple at Ailia,
he presented himself there, accompanied by two Divs.
They had taken the form of three old men, sat in
the midst of the people and entered into conversa-
tion, saying, “We have aU three come from the west.
Having heard speak of your religion, we have found it
good, and have believed ; but we have desired to hear
what you ' say concerning Isa.” The men answered,
“ Isa is the prophet, the spirit of Allah, and the son of
Mariam ; he was not begotten of a father.” Eblis said,
“ This is not possible. I think that Allah is the father
of Isa.” One of the Divs said, “ This word is a foUy,

Q

242

THE EISE OE CHEISTEHDOM.

foi* A II rTi 1

-Qatli no children and hath no commerce
wit a n jgg^ ^Uah himself, who came

own oiix heaven and entered the womb of Mariam,
e went fo^j-]^ show himself to men under the form
0 a man, j^g returned to heaven ; for Allah hath
^wer to^he where He wills, and to show to men what
e wi s. other Div said, “ Your words are in-
sensate. that Allah loved Mariam, and

cause sa -j^g ■fjgrn from her without father ; and He
as <?sta among men as a sign of His omnipo-

He associated with Himself Isa and Mariam,
^ Tlf *^igtt be honoured equally with Allah.”

at day Jibiig showed himself to men and then dis-
a^eared These words fell into the hearts of men,
w 0 said, “ hTecessarily Isa must be in one of these
t ree ^Ohditions.” Then when Ehlis and his com-
n ^ disappeared, he led men astray, who pre-
ten ^ e that it was three angels whom Allah had ordered
to instruct qj^ the true origin of Isa. Then the
eietics w^rg (divided into three sects, each of which
accepts these three doctrines, which since then

^^^® ^^ined among them.

®htiles have become infidel in respect to Allah
on t e snhjggt of Isa ; they know neither Allah nor Isa.

oine tjj^t the event of the three Divs and
t eir iscQ^ygg tQQ]j^ place in the lifetime of Isa ; but
IS IS not go. It was after Isa that the occurrence took
^ midst of the people.

^sa had ascended to heaven the apostles spread
Death of liis religion among men, and each betook
Murder of liimself to the land that Isa had assigned to
rfZachSi. liim, and called men to Allah. Yahya, son of
^achariah, and the Apostle James remained
at 1 la. Ij;ing Herod treated them kindly and accepted

THE TEADITIOHS OE THE MOSQUE. 243

the religion of Isa. Mariam died sis months after
Isa.

Now the king had a niece named Herodias ; accord-
ing to another story, she was the daughter of his wife.
The king loved this young girl and desired to espouse
her; on this he consulted Yahya. But he said, “It is
not lawful for thee to espouse her, for according to the
Law and the Gospel it is forbidden to a man to wed
the daughter of his brother or the daughter of his
wife.” So Yahya dissuaded him. Then the young girl
and her mother were angered against Y^ahya, and the
former received the following instructions from the
mother : “ "When the king shall tell thee to demand a
grace (each day she had liberty to demand a grace),
say, I desire that thou cause Y^ahya, son of Zachariah,
to be slain.” When she made this request, the king
said, “ Ask something else, for Yahya is a prophet of
Allah, who must not be slain.” Next day the young
girl repeated her demand, but the king granted it not.
Then the mother and the daughter waited till one day
the king made a banquet. Then the mother adorned
the young girl with fine raiment, and brought her before
the king, that she might serve him to drink. When
he was drunk, and had returned to his room, he called
the young girl and would approach her ; but she said,
“ I will not give myself to thee unless thou place here
before me the head of Y^ahya.” The king in his drunken-
ness ordered that Yahya should be put to death. He
was beheaded, and his head was carried in a dish and
presented to the woman. Then the head began to
speak, and said to the king, “ It is not lawful for thee
to take this woman.” The king was filled with terror
and remorse. The blood of Yahya, in the place where
it had been poured, ceased not to boil When the:

244

THE KISE OF CHEISTEHDOM.

king Tvas informed of it, he ordered the earth to be
covered; but the blood ceased not to boil, however
great the quantity of earth cast upon it.

There was a king of Persia, on the hither side of

King Tigris, one of the kings of the provinces, of

Kherdous. Aschkanian race, named Kherdous. He
was warned that the children of Israel had just killed
their prophet Yahya, and that they had crucified
another prophet named Isa. He was wroth with them,
gathered an army and marched against Ailia. He
halted at the gates of the city and ordered his general
to enter, saying, “I have vowed that I will slay of
these people so many that the blood shall flow as a
river,” The name of this general was Pirouzadan.
When he came into the city, and saw the blood of
Yahya boiling, he asked what was this blood. The
people answered, “ It is the blood of the sacrifices
that we have ofifered to Allah, which he has not ac-
cepted.” The general, knowing that they spake not
the tiTith, brought them by pressing questions to con-
fess, saying, “ It is the blood of a prophet who has been
slain among us ; you are come to punish us for this.”
The general asked what was necessary that rest might
be given to the blood ; they said, “ Unless thou bringest
the murderer and slayest him by pouring his blood on
this, the blood of Yahya wiU not cease to boil.” But
none knew where the murderer was, and King Herod
was hidden. Then the king of Persia caused a mas-
sacre of the children of Israel, men and women,
pouring their blood on the boiling blood of Yahya ;
but it ceased not to boil until 70,000 persons had been
slain. ^

1 There are other accounts, showing how impressive was the idea of the
hoiling blood which cried out for vengeance.

THE TRADITIOXS OP THE SIOSQUE.

2-15

Then the general caused inquiry to be made of the
king, u-'ho was outside the city, what he should do.
The king said, “ Continue the massacre until the blood
hows into my camp.” Pirouzadan pitied the children
of Israel, and bade them gather all their, beasts together
for slaughter, that the blood might flow to the camp
of the king. And they did so. Then the king ordered
the general to profane the temple by casting into it
impure objects, and finally that he should destroy the
temple. He put an impost on the people, and promised
to remit it from those who should cast filth into the
temple. AH did so ; and the temple and city were
entirely destroyed, more so than in the time of Nabucho-
donosor. All descendants of the prophets were taken
into captivity.

It is told that Pirouzadan afterwards embraced the
“Jewish” religion and separated from the king, who
left the children of Israel captive in his kingdom until
his death. Then they returned to the holy place and
rebuilt the city.

Some traditionists say that this Persian king was
Nabuchodonosor ; an anachronism which the chroni-
cler corrects : King Kherdous was contemporary with
the successors of Alexander.

Some also here connect the prophet Daniel and five
other descendants of the prophets with this ’ prophet
king, assumed to be Nabuchodonosor. It was
reported to him that Daniel and his com-
panions followed another religion than his, and that
they ate not the flesh of sacrifices. When interrogated,
they avowed that they worshipped AUah. Then the
king ordered a great pit to be dug, and them to be cast
in along with a famished lion. They were left there
a whole day. In the evening, the king, looking in the

246

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

trench, saw the lion couched far from the men, who
were in all safety, and with them a seventh person.
He made them come forth, and asked them who was
this other person. Now it was an angel, who struck
the king on the face, and changed him into a wild
beast. He went forth from his kingdom, and lived
with the beasts of the desert seven years ; then he died.

Tahari, however, says that this legend is false ; that
this king was not Nabuchodonosor, but Kherdous ; also
that every king who did evil was called by the children
of Israel Nabuchodonosor ; ^ and so in this sense
Kherdous may be called by that name.

The chronicler, continuing, says that under the
Romans Syria and Rome formed one empire, and that
kings of Rome succeeded one another from Tiberius,
under whom the death of Isa took place, and who
became a follower of his religion, down to Heraclius,
in whose time Mohammed appeared. He has not a
solitary word of those fables of the Synagogue which
tell of wai’s of the Romans against the Jews during this
period. The Aschkanian kings reigned on the other
side the Tigris as far as Rei, and when they ceased to
reign the Arabs occupied their place. For they had
been ill at ease in the desert, in the Hedjaz, and in
Yemen. They came and dwelt in Bahram and in the
Yemana ; and when the Aschkanian kings quitted
Iraq, the Arabs came forth from the territory of Koufa
and Hora and occupied Iraq. A portion of the territory
remained in the power of the “ kings of the provinces,”
who were not subject to the Arabs. The Arabs
occupied all the land of Iraq to the frontiers of Syria.
Syria with Rome formed the empire of the Romans.

^ An important fact in reference to the Biblical legends of Nebuchad-
nezzar.

THE TEADITIOXS OE THE irOSQHE.

247

Ardeschin subdued tbe “ kings of the provinces,” and
made himself master of the lands inhabited . ,

TiAi T ArdescUin,

by the Arabs, and confined them to the desert s™ of
on Hedjaz and Bahram.^ He endeavoured
to wrest Syria from the Eomans, but could not succeed.
Nor could any of the Persian kings obtain possession
of Syria ; it remained united to the Roman empire from
the epoch of the ascension of Isa to the time of
Mohammed, or from Tiberius to Heraclius, a period of
585 years.^

An imperfect list of Roman emperors follows. The
writer says that under Nero the two apostles sent by
Isa to Rome, who called him to the religion of Isa, were
crucified head downwards. Vespasian was a believer
in Isa. He sent his son Titus to Ailia to destroy the
city and the temple and slaughter the children of Israel,
to avenge upon them the death of Isa. But no war
under Hadrian is recorded. A bare list follows, down
to Heraclius, to whom “our Prophet” addressed a
letter and sent a messenger.

From Nabuehodonosor to the Hegira there elapsed
1000 years ; from Alexander to the time of Mohammed,
926 years ; ® from Alexander to the birth of Isa, 303
years ; * from the birth of Isa to his ascension, thirty-
three years; and from the ascension to the time of
Mohammed, 585 years.

Passing over some annals of the Arabs in Iraq,
Mesopotamia, and Yemen, we come to the young
legend of the “ People of the Cavern.” These Men of the
were of an idolatrous city in Syria, Ephesus,
in the time of the great King Decianus, after Alex-

^ Of. Part II. c. 1 1. It was 400 or 533 or 266 years after Alexander.

2 Tlie following passage is only in MSS. A and B, used by Zotenberg.

3 Or 920, according to Part II. c. 65.

^ Or 369, ib.

248 THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

ander. They were of the number six, the sole believers
in all the city knowing Allah. The king summoned
them to him, and said, “ Who do ye worship, and what
is your God 1 ” They confessed their religion before
the king, and Allah strengthened their hearts, so that
they had no fear, and they said, “ Our God is the God
of heaven and of earth, and we own no other than Him.
If we spoke otherwise, we should lie.” So Allah hath
spoken of them in the Koran (Sur. xviii. 12).

At this time there was no prophet on the earth ; by
their own intelligence they came to the knowledge of
Allah. It was before the appearance of. Isa, Yahya,
and Zachariah ; there was no prophet in Syria.

These men were aU of high birth, and the king could
not lightly put them to death. The king had a Cadi
whose son also professed the true faith, but dared not
avow it in public because of the king. The king said
to the Cadi, “ What thinkest thou ? how must we act
with them?” The Cadi answered, “They are all of
good family ; they must not lightly be slain. Give them
the space of this night, that they may reflect, and return,
it may be, to reason.” The king granted them this
space,: and] they retired. In the Koran they are
honoured by the name “ young men.” They had en-
joyed the immediate direction of Allah in the right
way.^

Their names were Maximilianos, Malchos, lamblichos,
Martinianos, Dionysios, and John. By night they left
the city and repaired to the mountain Yahlos. There
they met a shepherd named Antoninos. They said to
him, “ Is there in this mountain a place in which we
^ The doctors and commentators say that the expression “ young men ”
is only employed twice in the Koran in reference to believers. Once it is
applied to Ibrahim (Sur. xxi. 6i). To infidels it is twice applied (xii.
36, 62).

THE TEAHITIOHS OF THE MOSQUE.

249

may hide for some days?” The shepherd said to
them, “Who are you?” They answered, “We profess
another religion than the king and the dwellers in the
city ; we worship a God different from their idols. We
have fled from the king, fearing for our life ; we seek
a hiding-place.” And when they had explained to him
their belief, he too accepted it, and said, “ I will go
with you.”

He had a dog which followed them, and which
refused to quit them, though the shepherd struck it
and would have driven it away, for fear that its bark
might betray them. At last AUah gave a voice to the
dog, which said distinctly, “ Why do ye strike me ? I
also believe in the same God in whom ye believe ! ”
This was for them a sign and a miracle on the part of
Allah. Then they set forth and came to a great cavern
known to the shepherd. The Koran says : “ Thou
mightest have seen the sun, when it had risen, to decline
from their cave towards the right hand ; and when it
went down, to leave them on the left hand. And they
were in the spacious part. This was of the signs of
God. Whomsoever God shall direct, he is directed ;
and whomsoever He shall cause to err, thou shalt not
find any to defend or direct. And thou wouldst have
judged them to be awake while they were sleeping,
and we have caused them to turn themselves to the
right hand and to the left. And their dog stretched
forth his forelegs in the mouth of the cave. If thou
hadst come suddenly upon them, verily thou wouldst
have turned thy back and fled from them, and thou
wouldst have been fiUed with fear at them ” (Sur. xviii.
16 seg.).

AUah sent them sleep, and during sleep He took
away their souls, and that of the dog. In vain the

THE EISE OF CHEISTEHDOIL

250

king sought for them during a month. They remained
in the cavern 309 years. Each -week Allah sent them
an angel to turn them from one side to the other, to
hinder their flesh from coiTupting by contact with the
earth, and their bodies from being decomposed. The
mountain was situated towards the south, at the left of
the west ; and the entrance of the cavern was turned
to the side of the north, so that the sun in rising was
on the right of the cavern, and on its left when it set.
The north wind blew in it, and hindered any cadaveric
odour from being perceived.

Under the first of the Eoman kings of Syria Isa had
appeared, and informed the children of Israel of the
event of the young men of the cavern, announcing
that they would arise, would be seen of men, and would
die anew, that men might be convinced of the resurrec-
tion of the dead.

At the end, therefore, of the 309 years, saith Allah
in the Book, “We awaked them from sleep, that they
might ask questions of one another. One of them
spake, and said, ‘How long have ye tarried 1 ’ They
answered, ‘We have tarried a day, or part of a day.’
They said, ‘ Your Lord best knoweth the time of your
tarrying. Now send one of you with this your money
into the city, and let him see which hath the best and
cheapest food, and let him buy your provision from
him, and let him behave circumspectly, and not dis-
cover you to any one. Verily, if they come up against
you they will stone you, or force you to return to their
religion ; and then shall ye not prosper for ever.’ And
so we made men acquainted with them, that they might
know that the promise of Allah is true, and that there
is no doubt of the hour, when they disputed anything
of this matter” (Sur. xviu. 18-20).

THE TEADITIOHS OF THE MOSQUE.

251

So all tile people of Syria and of Routn (Asia Minor)
believed in Isa and read the Gospel, and they knew
this event. But it was not said in the Gospel in what
country of Syria the cavern was situated, as the Koran
indicates it. So they waited to see fi’om what land
they would come.

It was lamhlichos who was sent into the city. He
recognised the houses and the bazaars, but not the men.
He saw men in prayer worshipping God, and in
astonishment said, “A day ago we started, and the
people has become believing ! ” Then he went to a
baker’s to buy bread ; but the baker saw that his money
was not current coin, for it was the coin of Decianus,
of whom he knew nothing. The present king, he said,
followed the religion of Isa and worshipped Allah,
lamhlichos was brought before the king, who listened
to his adventure, looked at the coin, and recognised that
it was one of the Companions of the Cavern whose
story he had read in the Gospel. He then caused
lamhlichos to recite his story in presence of the
citizens, the doctors, and the readers of the Gospel.
And all agreed that the adventure of the cavern was
that foretold in the Gospel. And lamhlichos entered
the cavern in the sight of the king and the people, to
tell his companions that they had slept the sleep of
309 years.

The Koran relates, “ They said ; Erect a building over
them ; their Lord best knoweth.” They who prevailed
in their affair answered, “We will surely build a chapel
over them.”

For when lambhchos had spoken to his companions,
he fell and died, and the others also died. The king
and people waited, but as none appeared, and as they
dared not enter the cavern, they proposed to build a

THE EISE OF CHEISTE]n)OM.

252

chapel at the door of the cavern, that men might pray
and their prayer might be heard. So they built the
chapel, and inscribed on the stone of the cavern wall
the histoiy of the men of the cavern, as it has been here
told after the commentators.

Tabari says further, “ Some of the doctors say that
these Young Men entered the cavern before Isa, and
came out after Isa ; and that both events were in the
time of the ‘ kings of the provinces,’ after the epoch of
Alexander and before that of Ardeschin son of Babek.”
Another account is that they entered the cavern after the
appearance of Isa, having believed on him in the city
of idolaters ; and that one of the apostolic missionaries
of Isa having come into this city, had called the inhabi-
tants to Allah ; that they had not accepted his preaching,
and that the Companions of the Cavern had accepted it.

Another story is that the king, being an idolater, had
placed at the gate of the city an idol ; all that entered
the city worshipped it. Now one of the apostles of
Isa came to the city, and refusing to worship the idol,
entered not the city. Near the gate was a bath, to
which he repaired ; he hired himself to the proprietor
for wages. He fasted during the day, and spent the
night in prayer. The keeper of the bath was blessed
in his industry, and he said, “ This blessing comes to
me because of this servant.” So he treated the apostle
with respect and made a friend of him. After a certain
time the apostle expounded to his master the religion
of Isa, and the keeper of the bath accepted it. Also
to the young people of the city who visited the bath-
keeper the apostle preached the faith of Isa, and they
accepted it. They were the Companions of the Cavern.

One day the king’s son came to the house with a
woman of evil life. The apostle said to him, “Art

THE TRADITIONS OE THE MOSQUE.

253

thou not ashamed to come to the bath with this
abandoned woman 1 ” The king’s son struck him, reviled
him, and entered the bath. He and the woman were
suffocated and died. When the king was told that his
son had been slain in the bath, he came thither, called
for the keeper and his servant, and said, “Who are they
that frequent the keeper of the bath ? ” Then the young
men, on search being made, went out of the city and
fled. At a certain place they met a peasant, who had a
dog, and who also professed then: religion. They said,
“The king seeks us.” The man was afraid, and he
went with them, followed by his dog. The keeper of
the bath, the peasant, the apostle, and the young men
of the city all went together and entered the cavern.
The king arrived at the door, and as none dared enter,
he caused them to be walled in, that they might die of
hunger and thirst. The Companions of the Cavern
slept there 309 years. Then, when Allah willed their
reappearance, a shepherd came by; he was cold and
turned to the mountain. He found an opening, entered
with his sheep and passed the night, then went his
way. Allah awoke the Companions of the Cavern and
restored their life. Then they sent one of them with
the money which they had. The author says that at
this time each dirhem had the value of ten, was seven
times the weight of the later coin, and was as large as
the sole of a young camel.

There are farther discussions as to the exact number
of the Men of the Cavern, the strong opinion being,
according to the Koran, that they were seven, and
the dog the eighth.^

1 From tlie Moslems the legend of the Seven Sleepers found its way
among Jacobites^ ITestorians, monks of St. Basil, and monks of St Bene-
dict See Simeon Metaphrastfla. and Gregory of Tours.

254

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

In the Koran we read, “Jonas (Yunus) was of those
^ ‘ who were sent,’ when he fled into the

.Tonas, Son of loaded ship, and they cast lots among them-
selves, and h.e was condemned ; and the fish
swallowed him, for he was worthy of blame. And
if he had not been of those who praised Allah, verily
he had remained in the belly thereof until the day of
resurrection. And we cast him on the naked shore,
and he was sick ; and we caused a plant of a gourd to
grow up over him ; and we sent him to a hundred thou-
sand persons, or they were a greater number, and they
believed ; wherefore we granted them to enjoy for a
season ” (Sur. xxxvii. 1 39).

Jonas is said to live in the time of the “kings of
the provinces.” He was of the children of Israel, a
prophet, and an envoy of Allah. He was sent to a city
of the territory of Moussoul, including seven towns, all
given to idolatry. As the people refused to believe,
Allah threatened to send upon them a chastisement
should they not repent. On the day appointed, Jonas
went forth from the midst of them. During the night
and at daybreak, Allah sent a red cloud filled with fire,
which hovered above the city. The king and the
people gathered together, and knew that the chastise-
ment was near at hand. And the king said, “ Seek
Jonas, that we may believe in Allah ; for what he has
told us is the truth.” When Jonas knew that they
sought him, he said with anger, “Why did they not
believe before this day?” He fled from them, and
showed not himself ; as again it is said in the Koran,
“ Remember Dhuhun,^ when he departed in wrath, and
thought that we should not exercise our power over
him. And he cried out in the darkness,. ‘ There is no
A surname of Yuuus.

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE. 255

God besides thee : praise be unto thee ! Yerilj" I have
been one of the unjust.’ Wherefore we heard him and
delivered him from affliction ; for so do we deliver the
true believers” (Sur. xxi. 87).

The king on the departure of Jonas caused all the
people to go forth out of the city, with all their quad-
rupeds and birds. They covered themselves with dust,
and the king said, “ O Lord, though Jonas thy prophet
be gone, we lose not confidence in thee. We believe
on thee, Allah, and in thy prophet.” Then the king
caused all the idols to be destroyed ; and all the chil-
dren to be separated from their mothers, and the young
from their dams. Cries and tears, and prayers and
sobs from the great multitude rose to heaven ; heaven
was afflicted with earth; and the angels wept and
pardoned the city. Three days and three nights sup-
plication continued ; on the fourth day Allah had pity
on them, and remanded the chastisement. Never before
had Allah pardoned a people who had not believed
at the appointed time, as it is said in the Koran
(Sur. xc. 8).

They adopted the faith and believed in Allah ; but
Jonas was not there to teach the religion and worship ;
and they waited till Allah should send Jonas or another
prophet.

Jonas meanwhile in his wrath knew not that he
committed a sin that Allah would punish. Crossing
to the shore, he went on board a passing vessel, and
when it came to the middle of the sea Allah caused
to come from the depth of the sea the fish, into the
belly of which Jonas was to be cast, and the fish
stopped the vessel. The crew prayed and wept, and
prepared for death. Then Jonas knew that he had
committed a sin, and he said to them on board, “ It

256 THE RISE OF CHEISTEKDOM.

is I whom the fish desires, cast me to it ! ” When he
declared his name and quality, they refused to cast
into the sea a prophet of Allah. Then they cast lots,
and the lot fell upon Jonas, as it is said in the Koran,
“They took pieces of clay, and wrote upon each the
name of one of those on board, and prayed that the
name of the appointed one might swim and the others
fall. The name of Jonas came to the surface. Then
he cast himself into the sea and was swallowed by the
fish. But Allah charged the fish to do him no hurt.
This species of fish has by His will a raised back like
the roof of a house ; and to this day is held sacred
from pursuit.”

After forty days Allah would deliver Jonas, and
Jonas was inspired with the thought of prayer. Allah
sent an angel to lead the fish to the shore at the place
where Jonas had embarked. When cast ashore, he was
weak as a new-born child. But Allah inspired a doe,
which came and gave him of her milk ; and she returned
again in the evening. The sun scorched the body of
Jonas, and Allah caused a gourd to spring from the
ground, which wound about a dry trunk and put forth
large leaves to give him shade. Forty days, night and
morning, the doe came to give him milk, till he could
rise and pray. At last the gourd withered, and Jonas
was aggrieved. Then Allah exhorted him because he
was not grieved for the many thousands of His servants
whom he had deserted ; and Jonas was sent anew to
the people.

"V^en he came to the territory of the city, he met a
shepherd with his sheep, who told him of the condition
of the city, and how they were seeking Jonas. Jonas
declared himself, and bade the shepherd go and tell
the people. The shepherd said, “ O prophet of Allah !

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

257

■where shalt thou be 1 ” Jonas answered, “ In this
mountain.” The other said, “ Who will show me the
road to thee?” Jonas ans'ivered, “This she-goat.”
The shepherd said, “Who will bear witness to the
people that I have seen thee?” Jonas said, “Thy
dog.” Then Jonas entered the mountain, and the
shepherd went and told the king, who with the people
came out of the city. The shepherd said to the dog,
“Bear witness for me, as the prophet commanded.”
The dog began to speak, and said distinctly, “Jonas,
son of Matai, prophet of Allah, was here.” Then
the shepherd said to the she-goat, “Be our guide.”
She led them to Jonas, who was found deep in
prayer. He rose and went with them to the city ;
they believed, and he remained with them tiU his
death.

In another place in the Koran it is ■written ; “ Wait
patiently the judgment of th.y Lord ; and be not like
him who was swallowed by the fish, when he cried,
being inwardly vexed. Had not grace from his Lord
reached him, he had surely been cast forth on the
naked shore, covered vrith shame ; but the Lord
chose him, and made him of the just ” (Sur.
Ixviii. 50).

That is, Jonas was elect when he came from the
belly of the fish. The story was revealed to our
prophet by Allah, saying, “Be patient, whatever the
afflictions that thy people cause thee, and quit them
not like Jonas, son of Matai.”

“ This history, from beginning to end,” says
the chronicler, “ is as the doctors and commen-
tators have given it in their books, in the same
order.” ^

^ Th.e tomb of the prophet Jonas (Y imns) is shown near Monssoul.

B

THE RISE OF CIIEISTEHDOM.

258

In the times also of the “ kings of the provinces ”
The Two occniTed the event mentioned by Allah in the
Suo^oouid by • — “Propound unto them for an ex-

a Third. ample the inhabitants of the city when the
apostles came thereto, when we sent unto them two,
but they charged them with imposture ; wherefore we
strengthened them with a third ” (Sur. xxxvi. 1 2).

This was the city of Antioch, which formed part of
the country of Moussoul and of Syria, as the com-
mentators explain. These apostles were in number
three, Sadoug, Sadig, and Saloum. There reigned in
the city a Eoman king, Antiochus, an idolater, like all
the people. Allah sent two apostles, who were treated
by them as liars, then a third, and all were prophets.
Tabari says there are differences in the traditions.
Some say that they were disciples of Isa, and that their
mission was by Isa’s command. But the commentators
rely on the above passage of the Koran.

In the commentaries also we read that the names of
these apostles were Thomas, Paul, and Simeon. Por a
year they called men to Allah, but none believed. But
there was a carpenter, Habib, who had believed ; he
was a stranger, and dwelt outside the city. Each day
he divided his gains — gave one part to the poor, the
other to the needs of his family. After a year, rain
failed, and the people threatened to stone the prophets.
But Habib cried, “ 0 my people ! follow the apostles of
Allah ! PoUow Him who demandeth not any reward of
you ; for these are directed.” And when they answered,
“ Thou hast followed them,” he replied, “ Why should
I not adore Him who hath created me ? Eor unto Him
shall ye return” (Sur. xxxvi. 21).

The people surrounded him and said, “ Thou art a
stranger, and takest thy bread and water from our city,

THE TRADITIONS OF THE ilOSQDE.

=59

but thou hast alliancewith our enemies.” They trampled
him under foot, and smote him so that he died. Allah
sent him to Paradise, as it is said in the Koran, “And
when Habib saw the splendours of Paradise he said,
‘ Ah ! if my people knew what Allah hath granted me
because I have followed His prophets, surely they too
would follow.’ ” You may still see the tomb of Habib
the carpenter at Antioch. Then .rillah commanded
Gabriel to sound, and they all died, as it is said in the
Koran, “There was but one cry, and behold, they
were utterly extinct” ’

Samson is also referred to the time of the “ kings of
the provinces.” He was not a prophet, but The story of
a believer, dwelling in one of the cities of
Roum and worshipping Allah. His mother had made
a vow and had consecrated him to AUah, who had given
him so much strength that none could master him.
When bound with cords or fetters, he broke them, and
nought could hold him. The inhabitants of the city
were idolaters. Samson’s house was a parasang from
the city ; thence he came and called them to Allah, but
they believed not. He made war upon them alone,
armed with the chin-bone of a camel, from an opening
in which AUah caused a spring to issue for his drink.
In aU battles he slew a great number, made many
prisoners, and took much spoil. Whatever ruse was
employed against him, they could not seize him. Then
they said, “He must be caught by means of a woman.”
They offered great wealth to his wife, who belonged to
them, that she might bind him and tell them after-
wards, and they gave her a strong and stout cord.
When Samson slept, she tied his hands to his neck ;
but on awaking he tore the cord, and his wife said that

^ See Sale’s note ad loc.

26 o

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

she had done this to prove whether it was by his
strength that he resisted, or through the weakness of
his foes. Another night the men brought her a chain
of brass, but Samson shook his hands and broke the
chain when he awoke. Then she said, “T have proved
thee to see how strong thou art ; now I know that no
man in the world is stronger than thou art.” Samson
said, “ There is but one thing by which I may be bound
and in which I cannot move;” and after much entreaty he
said that it was only by his own hair that he could be
boxmd. His hair was so long that it reached his feet.
So when he slept his wife bound him with his hair,
and when the men of the city came they cut off the
ears and nose of Samson, put out his eyes, and took
him into the city to the comi; of the king, where they
placed him. The king was on the terrace, and looked
at him. Samson implored Allah to give him back his
strength and all that had been cut from his body.
Then he wrenched the columns from the terrace and
caused them to fall. All the people perished.

George was a believer in the religion of Isa in the
stoiyof time of the “kings of the provinces.” He
(mc^ohis) was of Palestine, a travelling merchant, who
the Martyr, distributed all his income to the poor year
by year, reserving to himself only the capital. There
was at Moussoul a king of Syria, a giant and an
idolater, Dadyane (said to signify Diocletian). He
had an idol named Apollo. George and other believers
in Isa kept their religion a secret, and George with his
friend went to Moussoul to gain the protection of the
king, taking with him great riches. He found that a
proclamation had been made against all who refused to
worship idols, and that the king had called an assem-
bly outside the city, had brought the idol Apollo, and

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE. 361

caused a great fire to be kindled before him. Those
who refused to adore were to be cast into the fire.

George resolved to call the king to Allah ; either the
king would believe, or he would punish George with
death, and AJlah would reward his faithfulness. So
George gave away all his goods to his fiiend and came
poor before the king. He preached to him the doctrine
of the Creator and denounced the helpless idol. He
described himself as lowliest of the servants of Allah.
The king derided his poverty, pointed to the wealth
of his own idolatrous servants, and said, “Thy God
must be a slave like thyself, destitute and bare.”
George rephed, “ The graces of my God are of another
world, not of this. If thy idol has ser\"ants like
Theophilos, my God has servants like Ehas and Idris,
who were prophets, and raised to heaven to be with the
angels. If thou hast servants like Machlitos, my God
has servants like Isa the Masich, son of Mariam, whom
God has set apart from aU men.” He spoke long of
the merits of Isa, and further said, “If thy idol has
slaves like Inbil, a wealthy woman of high family, my
God has handmaids like Mariam the mother of Isa ; ”
and he recounted her merits.

The king refused to believe on these ideal beings, and
ordered that George should be stretched naked on a
plank, and be furrowed with iron combs ; yet he died
not. Vinegar and mustard were placed on his wounds ;
yet he died not. An iron nail was brought, heated red
hot, and thrust into his head; yet he died not. He
was then plunged into a boihng cauldron ; yet he died
not. Then the king was amazed, and calling him,
cried, “ George, who art thoul” He answered, “I am
a man.” The king said, “ Hast thou felt no pain from
these punishments?” George replied, “This God to

262

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

whom I call thee turns from me the pains of thy
punishments, that this may be an argument from Him
with thee.” Then the king cast him into prison. His
friends said, “ He must be tormented in prison, that he
may be busied with himself and not debauch the jailers
by calling them to his rehgion.” The king ordered
bim to be stretched on his face in the prison, and his
hands and feet to be nailed to his body with forty iron
nails. There was a column of marble which twenty
men could hardly lift ; it was placed on George’s back,
and he remained in this state all day. In the night
Allah sent an angel and gave him a vision. Before
this he had not received a message from heaven. The
angel took away the stone and the nails, and gave him
to eat and drink. Then he said, “In the name of
Allah, 0 George ! bear with my enemy and suffer his
torments ; he shall kill thee four times, and I will give
thee life thrice, and the fourth time I will deliver thee
from martyrdom.”

In the morning George came before the king, and
told him that he had been brought from prison by One
whose power was greater than his. The king caused
him to be placed between two planks of wood and
to be sawn in two, and each half was cut into seven
morsels. The morsels were cast into two lion’s cages,
but the lions smelt and refused to touch them. In
the night Allah collected the pieces, restored the body
and the soul of George, who went before the king,
saying, “It is my Lord who can accomplish such
things.” The king said, “ Who is this man, and what
shall we do with him?” They said, “He is a magi-
cian ; he charms the eyes. Cause the magicians to come,
that they may triumph over him.” The chief magi-
cian demanded an ox. He breathed into the two ears

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

263

of the beast and transformed it into two. He de-
manded com, sowed it, and it sprang up, came to ear,
and ripened. He cut and crushed it, had it baked
and eaten. The king was delighted, and said, “ I see
thou canst confound George. Canst thou transform
him into a dog?” He answered, “I can.” Then he
had a cup of water brought, breathed upon it, and gave
George to drink. He took it, saying “ Bismillah ! ”
and felt no harm. The magician was confounded, and
said, “O king! were there magic in these things, I
should have conquered, but these are the acts of the
God of heaven.”

Then one of the familiars of the king told him how
there was in the city a poor woman who had a cow
which gave m ilk on which she lived. The cow died,
and the woman cast forth the body, and the dogs and
birds devoured it. After a long space of time, she
went and found George. He pitied her, and gave her
a rod, saying, “ Take this and strike the cow, and the
cow shall return to life.” And when she told him the
cow had been devoured, he said, “Bring a bone, no
matter which.” So she brought a bone which remained,
and George touched it with the rod, and the cow came
to life. The king said, “ Has this miracle happened 1 ”
The courtier replied, “ Surely, and I have accepted the
religion of George, and have believed in him.” Then
the king ordered that his tongue should be torn out.

The story became known, and that day four thousand
men believed in the God of George. The king caused
them to be put to death with torments. And when
he asked George why he had not prayed for their
restoration to life, he replied, “ The delights they have
found are to be preferred to the life in this world.”

A further miracle was wrought by George. He

264

THE EISE OF CHEISTEHDOM.

caused fourteen seats, on -which guests sat at table
with the king, made of fourteen kinds of wood, to put
forth leaves and fruits, that they might eat, at the
request of one of the guests. The king said, “None
can surpass him.” Then the same courtier asked per-
mission to subject him to a torture against which
magic would not prevail. A hollow bull of bronze
was filled with naphtha, sandarac, sulphur, and lead.
George was placed therein, and a fiire was kindled
and kept burning three days. Then came a -violent
storm and the world was black as night. Men trembled
and remained in amazement for three days. Then
Allah sent the Angel Michael to overthrow and break
the statue. He made a noise that was heard in all
Syria; all that heard fell and fainted, no less than
the king and his guests.

George came forth, and appeared again before the
king, and spake to him, and the king and his guests
recovered their senses. And one said, “ O George ! I
know not if it is thou who workest these prodigies
or thy God. If it is thy God, bid Him raise the
dead from this cemetery, that we may speak with them,
and they may give testimony.” Then George went
to an old cemetery in their sight, and said, “Allah
accomplishes this to prove the truth.” He prayed,
and seventeen persons came living from their tombs
to them; nine men, five women, and three children.
Among them was an old man. The king said, “What
is thy name!” He replied, “Toubil.” “When didst
diel “ At such an epoch.” They reckoned the time : he
had been dead four hundred years. And the familiars
of the king said, “ There is no torture save hunger that
he has not undergone.” So then he was detained in
the house of a poor old decrepit woman, where there was

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE. 265

naught to eat and drink. To her George expounded
the faith, and she believed. Then he prayed, and a
pillar that upheld the house became green, furnished
leaves, and gave all manner of fruits for food. Its
summit became a lofty tree. When the king was
informed of this, he ordered the tree to be uprooted
and the house to be destroyed. Then the tree withered
and became as it was before. They left the house,
and caused George to come forth. The woman had
a son, deaf and dumb, blind and paralysed. She said,
“ Pray that my son may be cured.” George breathed
into the ear of the son and upon his eyes, and he
recovered hearing and sight. She said, “ Pray also for
his tongue, his hands, and his feet.” George said,
“Another time.” He was again brought before the
king.

The king caused to be fixed to his chariot, driven by
forty oxen, swords, knives, daggers, and spikes, and
drove over George, who was cut to pieces. The
fragments of his body were burned and reduced to
ashes, then cast into the sea. Allah ordered the wind
to carry these ashes to the sea-shore in the sight of
man, and restored George to life. And George again
appeared before the astonished king, who declared that
he would believe in him, were it not that men would
say he was vanquished. “Do for me,” he said, “a
thing that shall save us both. Go into the temple of
my idols ; there are many idols, of which the greatest is
Apollo. Offer him adoration and sacrifice, and I will
believe in thy God and adopt thy religion. So men
will not say thou hast vanquished me.” George con-
sented, and the king kissed his head and face. When
the news spread, a great number of the people who had
adopted his religion were greatly distressed.

266

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

George passed that night in prayer and singing of
psalms with a loud voice. His voice was very sweet.
The queen heard, and came and stood behind him
praying. And George, seeing her, expounded to her
the faith, and she believed, saying, “Keep this secret.”

The next day all the people went to the temple-gate
to see what George would do. The old woman with
whom he had lodged had been told that the king had
seduced George with gold and power, and had tempted
him to abandon his faith. In great grief she took up
her paralytic son and went to the temple-gate. As the
king entered with George, the par^ytic recovered the
use of hands, feet, and tongue, and went into the
temple, placing himself before George, who recognised
him and said, “ Call me those idols.” There were
seventy-one of them, each placed on a throne of gold.
At the word of the young man they aU fell to the earth
at the feet of George. He struck the earth with his
foot, and they all disappeared under the earth.

Now Eblis was in the temple ; it was he who spoke
from the interior of the idols to those who came to
worship. George seized him in sight of all the people,
and said, “Cursed one! why dost destroy and lead
astray all these men? What pleasure hast thou in
this 1 ” Eblis said, “ 0 George ! if Allah said to me,

‘ Choose the kingdom of heaven and of earth, and all
that is included in it, or the power to lead a single
man astray,’ I would choose to lead astray one of the
sons of Adam, because before Adam the kingdom of
the earth belonged to me. Allah ordered me to adore
Adam ; all the angels adored him, as Gabriel, Michael
and Israfil, but I did not, and I have lost my power,
without having taken care of it.” George let him go,
and he disappeared under the earth. The king said.

267

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

“ George ! thou hast deceived me, and hast destroyed
my gods. ’ George said, “ I have done so intentionally,
that thou mayest know they are not gods ; and as they
cannot protect themselves, they cannot protect you.”

The queen made known her faith, and said to the
king, “ There is no prodigy that George hath not
wrought before thine eyes, save that he has not prayed
that thou shouldst disappear under earth, even as
these idols. Why dost not believe in bim % ” It was
seven years that George had dwelt among them, and
34,000 men had believed on him. The king ordered
that the queen should be attached to the same wood to
which they hM bound George on the first day, and
that her flesh should be furrowed with the same iron
combs. She said to George, “Pray that Allah may
soften my torments ! ” He bade her look toward
heaven. She did so and smiled, and when the king
asked wherefore, she said, “ I see above my head two
angels with vestments of Paradise, ornaments, and
crowns ; they come to take my soul, to carry me to
Allah.” Then she gave up her soul amidst torments.
When she was dead, George lifted up his hands and
said, “ O Lord ! thou hast protected me in all these
torments, and hast made me support them ; thou hast
granted the recompense of martyrs in the death that
I have undergone. This is my last day ; thou hast
promised that thou wouldst raise me to thyself, and
that thou wouldst, dehver me from these iUs. O Lord !
before thou dost take me to thyself, bring to nought
these men before me who have not believed in me, and
have made me undergo torments. O Lord ! whosoever
after me shall be in woe or affliction, and who shall
call on thee, give him joy by thy pity and by my inter-
cession, and save him as thou hast saved me.”

268

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

When George had finished this prayer, a cloud
covered the heaven, and a rain of fire fell on those
who had not believed in him, and the 34,000 men and
women who had believed in him were present. As the
fire feU on the king and his followers, they seized their
swords, fell upon George and his disciples, and slew
them all. The unbelieving were all devoured by the fire.

It was at this epoch the reign of the “ kings of the
provinces ” came to an end, under Ardeschir, son of
Babek.

The chronicler describes his reign and that of Scha-
pour, in whose time he says Mani the here-
siarch appeared. There followed Hormuzd and
Bahram. It is said that during the reign of the latter
the doctrine of Mani was recognised to be false, and
he was put to death. Bahram caused him to be flayed,
his skin to be filled with straw. He was hanged at
the gate of the city of Tcheudi-Schapour, and all his
followers were put to death.

After three short reigns, we come to that of Schapour
Dsoul Aktaf. Thei'e was, it is said, in Bourn a king
named Ehanus (Julian), of the family of Constantine,
who believed in the religion of Isa, but who afterwards
returned to the religion of the Eomans that was before
Isa. He caused all the “churches” of Bourn to be
destroyed and broke all the “ crosses.” It is said that
70,000 Arabs joined him, and they formed his vanguard
under Jovianus. They are said to have given Schapour
battle and to have crushed him, so that he fled to
Ctesiphon, and escaped to Iraq. Some farther par-
ticulars of the campaign and the death of Elianus,
which depart from the account in Ammianus, are
given. Jovianus surrendered Nisibis to Schapour, and
is said to have reigned five years.

THE TEADITIOXS OF THE MOSQUE.

269

The references to religious affairs now become scant
till the time of Mohammed ; and it is clear that where
the chronicle is supposed to refer to “ Jews ” or “ Chris-
tains,” neither members of the Synagogue nor of the
Church are signified.

Thus Noman, an Arab vassal king of Hora, has
charge of Bahram, son of one of the Persian kings, for
whom he builds a Icliawarnaq or palace. Noman was
an idolater, but had a Syrian vizier who followed the
religion of Isa, son of Mariam. One spring day he sat
with the vizier on the terrace of the palace, and looking
on the beauty of the landscape, the river Euphi'ates,
Sawad and Iraq, he said, “ Is there in the world a
place whose aspect is more pleasant than this ? ” The
vizier replied, “ It is very beautiful, but it has one
fault : it lasts not.” “ What is there that is lasting ? ”
asked the king. The other said, “The religion of
Allah and His worship and the other world.” Noman
came down, adopted the religion of Isa, put on a frock,
and retired from the world after a reign of twenty-two
years. None ever saw him again or knew what became
of him.

At the time of the birth of Mohammed, all Arabia, the
Hediaz, Mecca, and Medina, were given up to

• -I 1 ^ ^ Yemen.

idolatry, except that there were some Jews,
whose ancestors had fled from Nabuchodonosor, in the
Hedjaz, and who followed the religion of Musa. At
this epoch “ Judaism ” had fallen, and the religion of
Isa prevailed, but only in the land of Bourn and towards
the Orient. All other lands were plunged in idolatry.

Then we read that “ Jewish doctors ” prophesied the
uprise of Mohammed in the territory of Mecca and of
his flight to Medina ; that they had found this in the
Law, the Book of Allah sent down to Musa ; that they

270

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

expoimded the religion of Mnsa to the Himyaritic
king, and that he accepted it, renouncing idols. That
these doctors were invited by him to go and convert
Yemen, and that they did not call the city of Medina
to Allah, because, as they said, “ These men will believe
by Mohammed.” Clearly these were not Eabbins.

At Mecca, the same doctors declare the temple to
be a temple of Allah, and bid the king shave his head
and make processions about the temple. To this king
is ascribed the act of first removing the idols from the
temple and covering it with cloth. In Yemen the in-
habitants are said to renounce idolatry under the direc-
tion of these doctors and to embrace “ Judaism.” The
doctors speak as Mussulmen about Divs, and clearly
are Mussulmen, that is, in so far as they prepare for
the coming of the Prophet.

It is said that Zora otherwise Dsou Nowas, the most
The People rospected of all the kings of Yemen, made an
ofKadjran. expedition against Nadjran, all whose inhabi-
tants followed the religion of Isa. He called them to
“Judaism,” but they refused; whereupon he plunged
them into a fiery fosse. Here we have a reference to
the Koran, which makes it clear that the people of
Nadjran were not “ Christians,” but faithful Moslems,
followers of Isa, and that their persecutors were cer-
tainly not “ Jews.”

“ Cursed were the contrivers of the pit of fire supplied
with fuel, when they sat round the same, and were
witnesses of what they did against the true believers.
They afflicted them for no other reason than because
they believed in the mighty, the glorious Allah, whose
is the kingdom of heaven and earth. AUah is witness
of all things. Verily for those who persecute the true
believers of either sex, and afterwards repent not, the

THE TEADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

271

torment of hell, and for them the pain of burning”
(Sur. Ixsxv.).

These people of Xadjran were all Arabs of the Beni
Thalab. Formerly they had been idolaters :

1 < i 1 -n- » o • Fimioun.

but there came to them one himioun, a bjTian,
and descendant of the disciples of Isa. He went from
town to town earning his living ; fled to the territory
of Moussoul, Mesopotamia or Iraq ; was made captive and
sold back to Nadjran. His master found his chamber
illuminated at night though he had no torch ; he was
praying and reciting. Nest day, on being questioned,
he said that he preferred the religion of Isa, son of
Mariam, and was reciting the Gospel, the book of God.
He gave a proof of the superiority of his religion by
praying at the foot of a tree where the people held
their idolatrous rites, when Allah, in the eyes of all the
people, gave order to the wind, and the tree was entirely
uprooted. The people broke their idols and embraced
the religion of Isa, alone among the Arabs. It is im-
possible that such a legend, in the belief of the
chronicler, should refer to any missionary monk of the
Order of St. Basil, whose christology was to the Arabs
an abomination.

In the short Surah cv. of the Koran it is written,
“ Hast thou not seen how thy Lord dealt with _ „ ,

the masters of the elephant? Did He not thesie-
make their treacherous design an occasion of
drawing them into error, and send against them flocks
of birds, which cast down upon them stones of baked
clay, and render them like the leaves of com eaten? ”

This is said to refer to the conquest of Yemen by
the Abyssinian kings. Yousouf Dsou-Nowas, the “ man
of the fosse,” already referred to, returned from Nadjran
to Yemen. One of the “ Christians ” of Nadjran, named

272

THE BISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

Dons, had fled upon his horse Thalab. He now
returned to Nadjran, called forth the living refugees
from their retreats, and said, “ Build again your
churches and set up the Christian cult ; I shall not rest
till I have had vengeance.” He rode to find the Caesar,
who was “ Christian,” taking a half-bound Gospel with
him. At this epoch Nouschirwan, a fire-worshipper,
was king of Persia. He cared naught for the burning
of the “ Christians.” So Dons came to the emperor
and showed his half-bound Gospel. The Caesar was
afflicted and wept, but excused himself from making an
expedition to so distant a land. He would, however,
write to the Gentile king of Abyssinia. And Dous
went with the letter to Nadjaschi, king of Abyssinia,
and showed him the half-bound book. The king wept
with his people, and resolved to attack Dsou-Nowas
with a numerous army, and to act with the “Jews” in
a ruder manner than they had acted with the Gentiles.

Dsou-Nowas, adopting a ruse, contrived to break up
the Abyssinian army and slaughter them. Then Abraha
was sent with another army of 100,000 men and con-
quered the land. At the city of Cana he assumed the
crown, proclaimed “ Christianism” and built “ churches,”
compelling the people to renounce “Judaism.” The
king of Abyssinia became jealous of Abraha, and sent
Aryat to summon him. Aryat was treacherously slain.

Then the king of Abyssinia swore by Allah, by Isa,
by the Gospel and the cross that he would not rest till
he had shed the blood of Abraha. But the latter made
a timely submission, was pardoned, and left in possession
of Yemen. He established “ Christianism ” in Yemen,
and led an army with elephants to Mecca to destroy
the temple of the Kaaba. Allah caused him to perish,
as it is written in the above text of the Koran.

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

273

Abraha bad built a magnificent “ churcb ” at Cana
called Qalis, which was visited by “ Christians ” from
Eoum, Syria, and other lands. It far surpassed the
beauty of the temple at Mecca. It contained paintings
and other splendid works of art. An Arab of the
desert visited and defiled it; in vengeance for which
act Abraha resolved to attack Mecca.

MTien Abraha came to the sacred enclosure, his
elephant Mahmoud refused to advance a step. Then
Allah sent birds, swallow-like, which flew to the sea
and took up grains of sand in their beaks ; then they
returned to Mecca and hovered over the Abyssinians.
A vapour came from hell and changed the sand into
stones, which fell on the heads of the soldiers ; the fire
entered their bodies, the flesh left their bones, and their
bodies became a mass of wounds. They returned to
Yemen and died.

After this event the inhabitants of Mecca were held
in high respect by all the Arabs, as guardians of the
holy city and sanctuary. When a caravan of a hundred
or a thousand camels went from Mecca, they attached
to each camel’s neck a branch with a cord of wool, and
it was thus protected from robbers and marauders.

The Prophet himself was bom in the era of the
Elephant, in the reign of Nouschirwan. Epociiofthe

According to another legend, the king of
Abyssinia desired to build at Antioch a “ church ” bear-
ing his name. He shipped a great quantity of wood to
Syria, but the vessel was wrecked near Djeddah. Much
of the wood was collected. At the time the temple at
Mecca was about to be rebuilt. So the elders of Mecca
went to Djeddah and asked that the wood might be
sold to them, and that they might hire the Abyssinian
carpenters. A letter was sent to know the pleasure

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

274

of the Abyssinian king, who wrote in return, “I give
all this wood to the temple of the Kaaba. Go to Mecca
with the carpenters, build that temple, and use the
money thou hast with thee for the expenses.” And
the inspector did so. The temple remains as it was
then built, with the exception of a comer, destroyed
by an engine of war-. Mohammed was then thirty-five
years old.

There are in the Chronicle some further references to
the cross marked on the dress of the Roman emperor,
the symbol of a different religion. But the cross was
an old Roman sign of victory, and has nothing to do
with the crucifix.

Whatever, then, be the date and the meaning of such
legends, they cannot refer to Christianism in any sense
understood by the Christians, that is, by the monks
themselves.

Again, Khadidja, the wife of Mohammed, is said,
at the time when Gabriel appeared to him and saluted
him as the Apostle of God, to have repaired to a learned
Gentile, Waraga, son of Naufal, who lived at Mecca
in the religion of Isa and practised the worship of
Allah. He had read many books, knew the Gospel,
and that the time had come for the appearance of the
Prophet. Khadidja said to him, “ Hast thou not found
anywhere in the ancient books the name of Gabriel,
and knowest thou who Gabriel is ? ” Then she related
what had occurred to Mohammed, and how Gabriel
had recited to him the Surah called Iqra. And Waraga
replied, “ Gabriel is the great Namous, the angel who
mediates between ARahand the prophets, who brings to
them the messages of Allah. He came to. find Musa
and Isa. If what thou sayest be true, Mohammed, thy
husband, is the prophet who is to be raised up at

THE TRADITIONS OF THE ilOSQUE.

375

Mecca in the midst of the Arabs, and who is mentioned
in the Scriptures.” And he added, “ If he had ordered
that men should be called to Allah, the fii’st who
would have answered and believed in him would have
been myself. I have waited for him for long years ! ”
This was not the language of a Christian.

Nothing can be more impressive then the simple
message which Gabriel brings to Mohammed the
second time, as he lies sleeping in his cloak, chiUed
with fear. “ Rise, thou that art covered with a cloak !
Rise and preach, and magnify thy Lord. Cleanse thy
garments and flee abomination ; and be not liberal, in
hopes to receive more in return ; and patiently wait
for thy Lord ” (Sur. Ixxiv. 1-7).

Here Allah (says the Chronicle) has resumed for the
Prophet prayer, religion, purity, faith, liberality, good
nature, and perseverance ; all parts of religion and the
qualities of the prophetic office.

Beautiful is the legend which tells how Khadidja
in joy answered her husband, when he in despondency
exclaimed, “ Whom shall I call, and who will beheve
on me?” “Thou canst at least call me before all
other men, for I believe in thee ! ” Then Gabriel called
for water and taught him the manner of ablutions
and of prayer; the Prophet repeating after him, and
Khadidja after the Prophet. How beautiful, again, the
incident of the boy AJi coming in and witnessing the
scene, and departing to consult his father whether he
should abide in idolatry. Turning back from the door,
he says, “ 0 Mohammed, Allah hath created me without
consulting my father. What need have I to consult
Abou-Talib to follow the religion of Allab and the
worship? Teacb me the religion that hath been
ordained thee? ”

276

THE RISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

This simple spiritual creed had nothing in common
with the Catholic christology as we know it from the
earliest documents of the Church. It is simply the
turning from the idol to the Eternal, fr'om the creature
to the Creator.

When the situation of the few believers among the
persecuting infidels became intolerable, the Prophet
bade them go to Abyssinia, “ whose people are
Christians, possessors of a sacred book, and nearer to
the Mussulmen than the idolaters. The king never
commits an injustice.” They were seventy who took
part in this first Plight ; they found security with the
king, who refused to extradite them at the demand
of the Qoraischites. He is said to have held “ many
discussions with the Mussulmen on the subject of
Islam and Christianism ; ” but these are not in Tabari.
The king is said to have believed in his heart, and
to have declared in public, “ I think that Mohammed
is the person spoken of in the Gospel.” But the
inhabitants refused to forsake “ the Christian religion.”
The king therefore practised his religion in secret.
On his death, when the Prophet had been five years
at Medina, Gabriel enabled him to see from Medina
to Abyssinia, and ordered him to pray for the king.
Mohammed saw his body stretched upon the bed.

There is nothing in the records of Catholic Chris-
tianity to confirm the notion that it had entered Abyssinia
before the time of Mohammed. Nothing is left us
to infer but either that these legends are of very late
date, or that they refer to some form of ' religion to us
unknown. Another incident records how Mohammed,
persecuted and weary, was resting near Taif and pray-
ing for the people, “ 0 Lord, punish them not, for
they know not that I am thy prophet ! ” It was near

THE TEADITIOXS OE THE MOSQUE.

277

a vineyai'd oivned by some cousins of Mohammed,
Otha and Schaiba, and they had with them a' slave
of Schaiba’ s, a Gentile from the city of Xineve. Nineve
is towards Sjiia, the land of Jonas. This slave had
read the Gospel and the Law, and practised the
orthodox cult at Mecca. It was the time of vintage,
and the Prophet, not knowing whose was the vine,
sat by a cistern to rest and to wash his feet and hands
and face. His cousins saw and recognised him, but
were unwilling to show themselves. Schaiba said
to the slave, “ Thou seest this man ; he is a magician
and possessed; wherever he goes, he is struck and
hunted by men. But he is om: relation and is hungry ;
we pity him ; carry him a plate of grapes, and return
without speaking, for he may seduce thee and cause
thee to lose thy Christian faith.” The slave took
the dish, and remained at a distance looking on.
Mohammed took a grape, and having detached a
stone from it, put it in his mouth, saying, “ Bismilldh ! ”
The slave said, “Young man, what word hast thou
pronounced 1 Since I left my country, I have not
heard it.” And when the slave said he came from
Nineve, the Prophet said, “It is the town of my
brother Jonas, son of Matai.” And when the slave
asked him who he was, he replied, “I am a prophet,
and Jonas was a prophet ; all prophets are brethren.”
Pinally, he gave his name, “Mohammed and Ahmed.”
“Art thou,” the slave asked, “that Ahmed who is
named in the Gospel? It is there said that Allah
would send thee to the inhabitants of Mecca, who
should make thee go forth from the city, and that
Allah should bring thee back, to subject them by
force, and that thy religion should reign in the world.”
“ Assuredly,” said the Prophet. “ TeU me the faith,”

278

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

said the slave, “for I have been long seeking thee.”
The Prophet presented to him the formula of Islam,
and the slave made profession of it; then he fell at
the feet of the Prophet and kissed them.

Mohammed ate the grapes and departed.

Here again “ Christianism ” is obviously not Catholic
dogma. On the contrary, it is a Christianism which
is conceived as a foreshadow of and preparation for
Islam and the Prophet. And the story is perfectly
consistent with what the Moslems ever maintain,
that the Gospel, in their sense of the word, foretells
Mohammed, the Pericl3rte. It would appear that the
“Judaism” of the Chronicle is the religion of Musa,
and the “ Christianism ” the religion of Isa — both,
as it might be said, earlier and imperfect forms of
Islam. But the words are mistranslations.

The Koran says ; “ Remember when we caused
Conversion Certain of the Djinns (or genii) to turn aside
of the Pens, thee, that they might hear the Koran.

And when they were present at the same they said,
‘ Give ear ; ’ and when they had heard, they went back
to the people, preaching. They said, ‘ Our people,
verily we have heard a book which hath been revealed
since Musa, confirming that which was before it, direct-
ing unto the truth and the right way. Our people,
obey God’s preacher, and believe in him ’ ” (Sur. xlvii.
28 seq.).

The names of these Peris are given. Later, they
came to the Prophet at Medina and said, “ Our com-
panions have become believers ; they desire to see and
hear thee.” Then they gathered in the Valley of the
Djinns, at two parasangs from Medina, towards the
desert, where none dares pass at night. The Prophet
promised that one night he would go to them. Here

THE TEADITIOXS OF THE MOSQUE.

279

again the commentators think that the Peris must have
previously been of the Jewish religion, i.e., the religion
of Musa, but by no means that of the Spiagogue.

Again, it is said that at the time of the great Flight
the villages of the Medina teixitory were inhabited by
“Jews,” or M’ab descendants of the Beni-Israel, who
had come from Spia and Ailia, fleeing from Nabu-
chodonosor, and that they had strong and solid castles.
They knew from the Law the description of the Prophet,
and had believed in him. But they thought
he would be of the Beni-Israel, of the descend-
dants of Musa; they did not know that he
would come of the xirabs. The Law had contained
the very description of Mohammed, but the ancient
Jews had suppressed it, so that these descendants did
not know he would be an Arab. Each time they were
attacked by the Arabs, they took the Law, seeking for
the passage concerning the Prophet, putting their
hands on it and saying, “Lord, aid us against these
enemies because of the prophet,” and they obtained
help. Now when the Prophet appeared, and they saw
that he was Arab and not Israelite, as they had
thought, they would not believe in him, and said,
“ This is not the prophet that we expected ; ” as it is
said in the Koran, “ When a book came to them
from Allah, confirming what was with them, though
they had before prayed for assistance against the un-
believers, when that came to them which they knew,
they had not believed therein; therefore the curse of
Allah shall be on the infidels ” (Sur. ii. 83).

The Eabbins knew nothing of all this ; and it is once
more clear that the “ Judaism ” of the Chronicle and
the commentators is the system of the Law, adhered to
especially by the Syrians and their descendants.

280

THE EISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

The Qiblah.

The sacred customs of the Arabs bear no trace of
being founded on those of the Synagogue or the
Church.

In the middle of the month Schaban, Allah com-
manded the Prophet to turn no more in prayer
to the holy place of Ailia, but to the Kaaba,
as the Arabs did. The “ People of the Book ” turned
to Ailia, where was Solomon’s temple, an illustrious
place, towards which Musa and Isa both turned. When
the Prophet came to Medina, where the cult of the
“People of the Book” prevailed, who turned to the
holy place at Ailia, Allah ordered him to turn also
thither, that he might not vex them. Yet he longed to
turn to the Kaaba, the Qiblah of Ibrahim and Ismail.
Finally his prayer was heard in the second year of the
Hegira, as it is recorded in the Koran, “We wiU that
thou turn to a Qiblah that shall please thee. Turn to
the holy temple ” (Sur. ii. 139).

Here again, “ Jews and Christians ” is a misrendering.
What distinctly appears is, that the followers of the
prophets Musa and Isa in the Hedjaz and Syria turned
to the holy place of the north, while the old idolaters
of Mecca and the Moslems turned to the Kaaba. It is
no affair of the Synagogue or of the Church.

In the month of Moharrem next year, it is said that
The Fast of Mohammed observed that “the Jews celebrated
Kamadan. tenth of the month a feast called

Aschoura,” in commemoration of the deliverance of
Musa from the sea. Then the Prophet ordained a fast
to the Mussulmen on that day, saying, “ I am worthier
to follow the example of my brother Musa, son of
Imram.” Then the Prophet, seeing that “ Christians ”
fasted during fifty days, desired to have a like fast in
his religion. The Koran says, “ O true believers ! a

THE TRADITIONS OF THE MOSQUE.

2S1

fast is ordained for yon, as it was ordained unto those
before you, that ye may fear” (Sur. ii. 179).

Who were those before the true believers? The
Chronicle says, “ Isa had ordained a fast of only thirty
days ; the ‘ Christians ’ have made the number fifty.
Musa also had to observe the fast only of thirty days of
the month Dsoul-qada, the time of his converse with
Allah, but he added thereto eleven days.” The Koran
ordains the month Ramadan for the fast, the month in
which the Koran was sent down. At the expiration of
the fast the Prophet established the obligation of alms
at the feast of the fast-breaking. Next year he left
Mussulmen free to fast or not on the day of Aschoura.

It is needless to argue these points at length, because
the Chronicles of the Rabbins supply no confirmation
of the existence of Hebrews, or Hebrew teachers, or
Hebrew literature in Arabia either at or before the time
of Mohammed.

The Chronicle indeed frequently speaks of a people
called Ydhoud who had fortified places in the vicinity
of Medina, and who were either expelled to Khaubon
or put to death by Mohammed. They appear, however,
to be clans of Arabs, who, though holding the Law in
the Moslem sense, refused to submit to Islam and to
the Prophet. There is nothing to connect them with
the Yehudim of the Bible, except the fact of their com-
mon resistance to Islam. It appears probable that the
term Yehudim, was, like a number of other terms, such
as Taurath, Nehi, &c., borrowed by the Rabbins from
the Arabian tradition.

It is necessary, therefore, that the question of Geiger’s
prize-essay, “^^at did Mohammed borrow from the
Jews ? ” should be reconsidered. Let us state the
question in a more general form, “What did the

2S2

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

doctors of the Mosque borrow from the doctors of the
Synagogue ? ” Then the answer must be, according to
the evidence— absolutely nothing. Or if, again, the
question be stated thus, “What is the debt of Arabian
religious literatm'e to Hebrew religious literature ? ”
The answer again must be, that the debt lies on the
other side, and that without exception. The Arabs
know of no Hebrew books containing revelations of
the will of Allah bequeathed from the dim foretime.
The Hebrews, on the other hand, who directly admit
that the Arabians were their masters in philosophy,
indirectly admit that they were also their masters in
religious lore, as we shall see when we come to examine
the traditions of the Synagogue.

And now, disengaging ourselves from the spell of the
great tradition stretching down from the first Adam
to the second, and again to Mohammed himself, and
reverting to the world of fact in place of that of in-
spired fancy, let us glance around us during the period
700-900 of our era.

The Koran, and the mass of religious legends on
which the Koran reposes, must during this period have
become fixed, and must have been known at Damascus,
Ailia, Bagdad, as well as at Mecca and Medina, and
equally in Africa and Spain, at the time when the
Kabbins and the Monks were not yet heard of in the
world. The Moslems had come to conceive of them-
selves as the people elect out of all the nations of the
earth to witness for the sole Deity of Allah, elect also
as Protestants and Iconoclasts in reference to the system
of worship that had so long prevailed in East and
West They believed that a great Prophet had arisen
among them to teach them these things, and to close a
long prophetic and apostolic succession that could be

THE TRADITIOXS OF THE MOSQUE. 283

traced up through 6000 years to the fii'st Adam. They
believed that before Mohammed, had appeared Isa,
son of Maiiam, about the beginning of the Roman
Empire, and it seems that the Roman emperors from
Tiberius had been mostly Masichists or folloTvers of
the Masich. The Chronicle ev’en states that when
Mohammed made his first summons in the name of the
new religion to the princes of the earth, the Emperor
Heraclius had at once submitted, and had proclaimed
Islam in his dominions. They believed that before Isa
had been Musa, and before Musa, Ibrahim the friend
of Allah, and his sons Ismail and Ishak. They had
brought their chief sacred places into connection with
this great system of retrospection.

Such was the great effort of national and ecclesiastical
will, acting upon the imagination of one of the most
powerfully imaginative peoples in the world, the success
of which has had effects so momentous upon our
lives. It may safely be said that this great Chronicle of
the Moslems is the foundation of aU the mediseval
chronicles, not only of those compiled in the syna-
gogues, but of those more numerously compiled in the
cloisters of the Orders of St. Basil and of St. Benedict.
We here touch the foundations of our Christianity;
we here arrive at last at the root of those conceptions
of the world and its origin, which, however beautiful
and impressive they may be in the light of sentiment,
have too long troubled our intelligence and impeded
the march of more useful knowledge.

It is needless to pursue this great Chronicle to the
end, and to dwell upon the particulars of the conquests
of Islam .or of the life and death of Mohammed. It
is apparent beyond question that down to the time
given as that of the death of Tabari, or about the year

284

THE RISE OF CHRIS TEKEOM.

9 20, that the Moslems ignore both Jews and Christians
in our sense of these words. The like answer must be
given to the question, What did Mohammed learn from
the Christians? that we have already given to the
corresponding question in reference to the Jews. The
doctors of the Mosque know of followers of the Masich,
of the Word of Allah, the created human son of
Mariam ; but they know nought of those Catholic
Christians whose primitive spokesmen are solely
the Basilians and the Benedictines. They condemn,
apparently beforehand, and as if prophetically, the
dogma that he was Son of God as infidelity. It is not
the Rabbins nor the people of the Synagogue whom
they accuse of conspiring against him, but unbelieving
predecessors of their own ; nor is the denial of his
crucifixion directed against the monks. The whole is
their revelation, and every page of Catholic polemic
against the Docetic belief bears witness that it is they
who are bent upon forcing their dogma of a crucified
God-man upon an unwilling world.

It will be necessary now to show how the literature
of the Rabbins followed upon that of the Moslem
doctors, and that of the monks upon Rabbindom.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE RISE OF HEBREW LITERATURE.

The rise of Hebrew literature in Spain, from the latter
decades of the tenth century or from the beginning
of the eleventh, is a fact of the utmost importance with
reference to the rise of Christendom itself.

What is the date of our oldest Hebrew text of the
Scriptures ? Our English Revisers say, in
their Preface of 1884, that “the earliest MS.
of which the age is certainly known bears oia Testa-
date A.D. 916.” It would be more accurate
to say that we have no certain knowledge of the age
of any MS., and that the date given is probably too
early by more than two centuries.

Recently Dr. Wickes of Oxford ^ has discussed the
antiquity of the Codex in the Synagogue at Aleppo, of
which he has given a facsimile page in his work on the
accents. This Codex has an epigraph assigning it to
Aaron Ben Asher, at the beginning of the tenth century,
which epigraph Dr. Wickes has no hesitation in treating
as a fabrication. And he proceeds to remark : “ How
many other epigraphs of Jewish texts would, when
carefully tested, have to be rejected, notably that of the
Cambridge Codex 12, which makes a Spanish MS.,

1 A Treatise on the Accentuation of the Twenty-one so-called Prose
Books of the Old Testament By William Wickes, D,D. Oxford : Clarendon
Press, 1887.

aSs

2S6

THE KISE OF CHFJSTE^’DOM.

unquestionably younger than the one we have been
considering, written in the year 856.” * He adds that
he has no doubt, from personal inspection, that a
Codex in the Imperial Library of St. Petersburg, dated
1009, is also much younger than that date.

It is admitted, then, by experts that we have as yet
no satisfactory criterion for determining the date of
MSS., and that few, if any, can be assigned to an
earlier date than the twelfth century of our era ; a
most important admission.

The question is part of a wider one, namely, at what
epoch were the synagogues founded, with that system
of worship and of instruction of which the Hebrew
Scriptures formed a part? The whole subject stands
in a clear light so soon as we draw a horizon line,
as sharply as may be, between the imaginary retrospect
of the Eabbins, which in great part is the same with
the retrospect of the doctors of Islam, and the actual
beginning of their literary activity.

In the first place, Hebrew writing, by their admission,
was in its infancy as a sacred art during the tenth
Hebrew century. Hebrew grammar is not heard of
Writing and till then, and its founders are said to be the

Gaonim of Spain, who were pupils of the
Arabians. The very name Gaonim is said to be of
Arabic derivation ; and the whole impetus to study and
culture received by the early Eabbins came from Arabian
culture and civilisation.

Orientalists have not yet arrived at an understanding
The mother-tongue of the various Semitic

Mother- dialccts ; but were it not for the Ions? pre-

tODgll6, , , O JT

possessions in reference to the history of the
Jews, it is tolerably clear that the Arabic would be

^ The MS, is probably of the thirteenth century.

THE EISE OF HEBEE^V LITEEATUEE. 2S7

recognised as the parent of all the rest. The late Dr.
W. "Wright, in his Grammar of the Arabic language,
remarked: “The Hebrew of the Pentateuch and the
Assyrian, as it appears in even the oldest inscriptions,
seem to me to have ah’eady attained nearly the same
stage of grammatical development (or decay) as the
post-classical Aiubic, the spoken language of mediaeval
and modem times.”

As an example of the prepossession to which wc
have referred, the following may be cited from M.
Renan : “It was natural that the Gaonim should desire
to apply to their sacred tongue, so closely related to the
Arabic in point of grammai-, the culture that the Arabs
used in respect to their idiom. "We should believe,
nevertheless, that before the labom-s founded on those
of the Arabs, of which the Gaon Saadia is regarded as
the ‘ beginner, the Jews were in possession of the
elements of a grammatical instruction.” ^

Put the learned critic produces no argument in
support of such a belief, which should be abandoned
if it rests on no producible evidence.

It is equally clear that not only the forms, but the
substance of early Hebrew literature was Hebrew im-
derived from the traditions of the Arabians pends outlie
— ^in other words, that the Biblical legends
are based on those in the Koran and the Chronicle of
Tabari. The resemblances and the variations presented
in the Moslem traditions, in the Chronicle of Josippon,
who is supposed to have been an Italian Jew, most
probably of the eleventh century, and in the Antiquities
of the pretended Jew Flavius Josephus, whose works
were produced by the Basilian monks, probably in some
monastery of Southern Italy, and lastly with the Hebrew

^ Hist, dds Zangttss Smdiiques, 172.

THE RISE OF CIlRISTENDOil.

sSS

Bible, cannot be here considered in detail. It will be
sufficient to point out that if these writings are posterior
to those of the .rirabians, it will be impossible to deny
the indebtedness of the traditions of the Synagogue
to those of the Mosque.

The Eabbins call their people Ibrim, Hebrews,
nirimand whom they find an eponymous ancestor,
Eber. Eber, a name probably of Arabic origin.
They also have the name Yehud, corresponding to the
Arabic name akeady noticed, in the books of Daniel
and Ezra. Yehudim, Jews, is synonymous wuth Ibrim
in one prophetic passage, and they have another
eponymous, Yehudah, the fourth son of Yakoub. They
are also Y'israel, or Beni Yisrael, whose eponymous
is Yakoub-Yisrael ; and they have a distinction of
“kings of Y'ehudah” and “kings of Yisrael,” said
to date from the death of Solomon. Again, the ten
tribes of Yisrael are designated Ephraim, and their
eponymous is the j^ounger son of Joseph.

Now the name Heber is recognised in the Chronicle
of Tabari in Mohammed’s genealogy, who is traced up
to Kaidar, son of Ismail, and the line then ascends
though Ibrahim, Thare, Nahor, Sarug, Eagon, Phaleg,
Heber, Sale, Arphaxad, to Sem, and from Sem to
Adam.^

Yehudah is recognised as third son of Yakoub in
the same Chronicle, and YTsrael is another name of
Yakoub. The Chronicle, as we have seen, also recog-
nises Israelites as the designation of the people on whose
sacred history it rests down to the time of the rise of
Islam ; although it ignores Eabbins and synagogues.
The Chronicle also gives Yussuf two sons, Ephraim
and Manasseh. The former has two prophetic sons.

^ Chronicle ii. 356, Zotenberg, Of. Gen. xi.

THE RISE OE HEBREW LITERATURE.

Tlie Bible agrees with the Chronicle in tracing all
mankind np to the three ancestors Sem, Ham, and
Japhet; and the Bible, in making Sem father of all
the Beni-Heber, whose younger son, Joktan, is the
eponymous of the Joktanite Arabs, Almodad, and the
rest, shows that the term Ibrim can hardlv exclude
the Axabs.^

Again, the Bible gives as Ishmaelites the people of
Nebaioth, Kedar, and ten others, who dwell “from
Havilah unto Shur, before Egj'pt, as thou goest towards
Assyria.” The Chronicle fixes Nabaioth and Kedar,
the two sons of Ishmael, at Mecca, and says that all the
people of the Hedjaz were descendants of Ibrahim and
Ismael. And the Biblical legend also allows Ismael to
be the elder son of the father of the faithful ; an
important admission, almost equivalent to the admis-
sion that the people who trace themselves to Isaac are
younger in the religious tradition.

But leaving the dreamy indications of genealogies
and geographies, — where the Eabbins show their anti-
pathy to the Arabian tradition is in degrading the
mother of Ishmael into an Egyptian bondwoman from
an Egyptian princess, as she is in the Arabian tradition,
in denying joint-heirship to her son with the son of
Sara, and in transferring the honours of Ishmael to
Isaac. There is no resort to such antipathy among
the Arabians : they admit Isaac without depreciating
him, reserving the preference to Ishmael. Their word
is “ the God of Ibrahim, Ismail, Isaac, and Yakoub.”

More distinct are the constant indications in the
poetical Old Testament books that the Bible lessons
were written for a people who habitually considered

I Gen. X. See, on the tribe of Eahtan in Spain, Mohmm. Dynasties,
by Gayangos, voL iL 24.

sgo

THE RISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

themselves captives, exiles, servants of other lords, and
■who were taught to look back upon imaginary splen-
dours of a reign of David by way of consolation in their
weakness, and stimulus to those hopes of dominion
which beat high in the Jewish heart from the time of
the Xormans.

The tradition about David and the holy place at
TheDavidic Ailia evidently comes from the Muslim, as
Tradiflon. probably the name Salem, Jerusalem.

It has never been shown that these names, and those
of Zion, Ariel, have in general other than a poetical
signification in the literature of the Eabbins ; for
there is absolutely no evidence from architecture,
from coins, or any other documents of antiquity, that
this people ever enjoyed dominion in the city founded
by the Eomans as Aelia Capitolina, and conquered by
the Arabs. But wherever in the Middle Ages there
was a synagogue and a burial-ground, there was a
“Zion” and a “Jerusalem” or “ Ariel.” ^

One of the most remarkable things in the Old Tes-
ThePiot tament writings is the hints it gives, not
the Book of Esther, which was de-

Peopie. signed to explain and illustrate the festivity
of Purim — a feast, we must believe, of purely mediseval
origin — ^but elsewhere of plots against the whole
people of the Synagogue to destroy them. And in the
violent and allegorical language which the Rabbins
habitually employ there are symbolic words which
sufficiently reveal their meaning. “They have said,
Come and let us cut them ojff from being a nation, that

^ On a bronze ewer in the Bodleian Library, found in Suffolk in tbe
seventeentb century, there is an inscription : ‘‘ The gift of the martyr Babbi
Yechiel, who answered and directed the congregation as he desired, in order
to see the face of Ariel, as it is written in the law of Yekuthiel, Kighteous-
ness delivereth from death.”

THE EISE OF HEBREW LITERATURE.

291

the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
For they have consulted together with one consent;
they are confederate against thee ; the tabernacles of
Edom and the Ishmaelites.” ^

Now the mediseval chroniclers say expressly that
Edom means the Eoman Empire," or the European
powers. It is well known that the medimval Eabbins
take delight in employing a great number of sj-nonyms,
drawn from the Biblical chronicles and genealogies,
to express the same idea. Just as with the Arabians
“ Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,” is a symbolic ex-
pression for a power inimical to the Semites, so with
Assyrians, Chaldees, xAmmonites, Moabites, Philistines,
and the like. In the same way the Moors in Spain
called tribes alien to them Philistines and Amalekites.
There is little, however, in the Biblical writings which
points clearly to the sons of Ishmael as enemies
of the Jews, distinguished from the Eomans. We
have but occasional reference to Hagarenes, Ishmaelites,
sons of Kedar. Ephraim appears to denote a large
branch of half-Israelites, “ a cake half-turned,” regarded
by the Jews as inferior to themselves, who honour
Jehuda ; while the Mohammedans, who so highly
honour Joseph, say that Jehuda was the smallest and
most despised of the tribes. Amidst the dense ob-
scurities of the Biblical books one point at least is
luminous. The Jews with the Mohammedans are chil-
dren of Jacob or IsraeL The Jews are not children of
Ishmael ; they honour the younger son of Abraham.
But both branches of the stock regard Esau-Edom,
i.e., the Greeks and Eomans, as elder brethren of the

1 Ps. Ixxxiii.

* One of the earliest is Benjamin of Tudela, c. 1 160, who calls Kome the
Edomite capital, and the Pope the head of the Edomitish religion. The
book is of dubious date.

THE KISE OF CHRISTE^'DOM.

39;

Israelites. The earlier part of the catalogue of nations
in Genesis x. is full of Greek and Latin names, accord-
ing to the explanation of the Jerusalem Targum ; and
there are more Greek and Latin words in Biblical
Hebrew in general than is commonly known.

These are but general observations. But it may be
safely said that if the Bible, which, regarded as a chro-
nicle of ancient times, has hitherto defied all the efforts
of ordinary criticism, is ever to be understood, it must
be in the light of the dialect and the peculiar world of
thought in which the mediaeval Eabbins lived and moved.

Let us turn now to the question of the origin of the
TiioTai- Talmuds, in which citations from the Bible
muds. embedded, even as citations from the New

Testament lie embedded in the commentaries of the
monks. The Eabbins who constructed the Talmuds
alone were in the secret of the date of the composition
of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Talmuds, moreover,
are their most valued books. They have a saying that
while the Scriptures are as water, the Mishna is as
wine, and the Gemara as spiced wine.

Now the traditions which still linger in the syna-
Popdar respect to the origin of the Tal-

jewTsh muds will hardly bear critical scrutiny. There

MTthologf. . . j . . j? . -1 . i • •

is evidence in them 01 that same straining
after an imaginary antiquity which is characteristic of
all new peoples and departures. In a current Anglo-
Jewish almanac, e.g., we read in a chronological table
of an edict of the Emperor Augustus in favour of the
Jews in England of the year fifteen of our era ; though
but recently a Jewish scholar, Mr. Joseph Jacobs, has
shown that there is no evidence of the arrival of any
Jews in England until about the year 1070.

We find the datum of the burning of the temple and

THE RISE OF flEBREW LITERATURE.

-93

the capture of Jerusalem iu the year 70, but h appears
from some of the Jewish meclireval chrouielcs tliat the
year 68 or 69 is given. Nor can the idea of any such
event be traced higher than the tenth — more priJaibly
the eleventh centxuy.

The next incredibility is the capture of Bither, and
the slaughter of 600,000 Jews, which may he traced to
similar som'ces. The date given is the year 134.

Then the Mishna is said to have been written by
“ Rabbi Judah, the Prince,” in 141, the Jerusalem
Talmud to have been completed iu 469, and the
Babylonian Talmud in 504.

We read of “the first mention of the Jews in the
English chronicles ” in the year 740. These chronicles
of the monasteries have been shown to be false and
antedated, as we have already observed ; nor are there
genuine notices in monkish chronicles of the Jews in
any part of Europe until, at the earliest, the thirteenth
centmy.

But now we come upon a date which may possibly bo
accepted ; it is “ Solomon Isaacides or Eashi flourished
1062.” And again: “ The Crusaders commenced what
they termed the holy war by murdering the Jews of
Europe, 1096.”

It is, in fact, about the middle of the eleventh century
that the Ibiim, or Jehudim, or Beni-Israel of the
s3magogues enter the field of historical observation.
Between the years 1000-1200 falls the fii’st period of
Judaism and its most important literature.

There is indeed a tradition concerning a Rabbinical
succession from a much earlier time; there. ,,,

Dogma of the

were Tanaim ; there were Amoraim in the time
of Antoninus Pius, with whom the Talmud is
supposed to have originated; there were Babanim of

^94

THE RISE OF CHErSTE^■DOM.

Pumbadita in Persia, and finally Gaonim of that and
other places.’ Great was the legendary renown of
these Eastern academies, and from them the Pahbinical
illumination is said to have passed to Spain in the
tenth centiuy. But the tradition demands critical
attention. It is a “far cry” from Mesopotamia to
Tarshish. and one would expect stronger historic links
connecting these extreme points of Rabbinical culture.
^Moreover, had Rabbinical schools been famous fox so
many centimes in the East, the westward migratory
doctors must have brought with them a whole system
of theology and of devotional literature wherewith to
Actual Rise fumisli the sj'nagogues of Spain. But the
facts of Spanish Eabbindom down to Mai-
monides, distinctly negative this supposition.
Everything relating to the Synagogue cult had to begin
in Spain. Consequently the whole theory of a succes-
sion of Rabbins and of “ Princes of the Captivity ” in the
East, reaching up so high as even the seventh century
of our era, breaks down on examination. It seems to
be, in fact, a case of reversed or double wandering,
similar to those frequent in the old Greek historical
mythology, that we have here before us. The splendour
of the Jewish status in Spain has reflected itself upon
schools of the East in reality later than those of Spain,
and on “Princes” who probably did not flourish in the
East till the twelfth century.

of the

Spanish

Schools.

^ See S. Ben Yirga, Hist. Judaica, c. 42 ; D. Ganz, Tscliemach David ;
Depping, Die Juden im Aliitelaltery p, 63 fil Isaac Disraeli, Genius of
Judaism, 1S33, remarks on the entire incompetence of the Eabbins for
history, and dates their efforts at historiography from the time of the con-
test -with the Karaites or anti-traditionists. He refers to the Sepher
JuchaisTii of Zacuto, 1500, as the most important of Jewish histories, along
with the Seed of David and the Sceptre of David of Ghinz and De Virga,
p. 9 seq.

THE RISE OF HEEREAV LITERATURE.

295

Let us look a little more closely at the tradition.
Two “ Fathers and Teachers of Israel " are xht Ti.ewy
supposed to have flourished at Pumbadita in Hi.fc'.suc-
the tenth century, R. Sclierira and E. Ilai. Ka'scKprir.
To the former is ascribed a “ secret roll."
not extant, also judicial “ Responses ” and authoritative
“Epistles.” Further, he is said, about 9S7, to have
produced a chronicle of the Rabbinical succession.
But it is admitted that doubts were rife about the
antiquities of the Israelites in his time, and that he
was not an impartial writer.^

And yet upon so frail a link as the personality and
authority of these Rabbins we are invited to make oiu’
belief in a history of some 400 or 500 preceding years
depend. We are to thank Scherira for “ the con-
tinuity of the thread from the close of the Talmudic
epoch down to his time,” though he can produce no
more than a bare skeleton of names and years, by which
he links the past of Rabbindom with himself. He is
succeeded by his son, Hai, “ who sat upon the throne
of his father, and his rule was greatly strengthened.”
His epoch is given as 969-1038. But this Rabbin is
said to have been more an Arabic than a Hebrew
scholar ; and the statement is made concerning him,
which will hardly surprise the reader who has followed
our argument, that he read the Koran and the Moslem
traditions in order to understand the Bible.® It is also
said that he learned versification from the Spanish
Rabbins, which he employed in order to embody moral
precepts similar to the proverbs ascribed to Solomon.
It is Spanish and African Jews who glorify the memory
of this Father in Israel.

^ Qraetz, GescL d, Juden,, v. 387.

2 Ibid. vi. 8.

296

THE RISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

Anotlier earlier name in the lists of Jewish illustrious
men is that of R. Saadia, of Faium, in Upper
E. saadia. Egypt (892-942), who is Said to have been

the master of Hai. How so, if the school of Pumbadita
was earlier?

But we have no distinct knowledge of Saadia, and
it is admitted that there w’as not much Talmudic
knowledge in Egypt till two centuries later, and
that, in fact, the ideas about Saadia, who is said to
have first translated the Scriptures into Arabic, to
have made some attempts at Hebrew grammar and
lexicography, and to have framed a Eabbanite or
orthodox festal calendar, may be traced to the school
of Maimonides.

We have no writings of Saadia, and he himself, in his
personality unknown, became probably from the twelfth
centiuy an object of retrospective honour to the ad-
herents of oral tradition in Egypt. The origin of the
school of Maimonides itself carries us back to Spain,
his bh-thplace.

Advancing down the stream of time, we are informed
that North Africa was “ deprived of its schools and
teachers” about loi 5-1055. We can only understand
this as a mediaeval expression denoting that they had
not yet been founded. About 1027 is given as the date
of the dawn of Rabbinical schools in Spain; a little
later the Gaordm are said to be extinct in the East.
As we understand the drift of such legends, they lead
us to infer that it was the schools of Spain which began
to supply Rabbins to Africa, Egypt, Syria, and Persia
during the eleventh century; and that the legends
about the priority of Pumbadita and Sura owe their
genesis to the later prosperity and ambition of these
schools. It was natural, moreover, that Orientals in

THE EISE OE HEBREW LITERATHRE.

297

Spain should desire to make out an early connection
with the East.

Let us attend to the striking and pathetic legend of
the rise of the school at Cordova. Eabbi Legend of
Moses and his son, E. Henoch, are supposed
to arrive in rags of sackcloth about the year 980,^ and
entering the school, to take part in a discussion on the
day of atonement. The presiding Eabbi, Nathan, rises,
impressed with the learning of the stranger in rags,
and cedes to him the place of judge of the congregation
of Cordova. The tale ran that E. Moses had been
captured by a Moslem Emir, who had assailed his
beautiful wife. She, inquiring if the sea would give
up its dead at the day of judgment, and receiving an
affirmative answer from her husband, had cast herself
into the waves. The Kabbin himself was sold and
redeemed by his countrymen at Cordova, while his
companions on the same vessel, E. Shemariah and E.
Hoshiel, were sold to Alexandria and to Alkihoran in
Noii;h Africa, where they became respectively chief
Eabbins.

The legend is more luminous than authentic facts
could be. It shows that the Eabbins of Spain and of
the West generally looked upon the tenth century as a
dim and almost unknown past ; that their predecessors
had been poor wandering slaves under the Moslem rule,
and that practically the origin of the schools of Cordova
was not within the ken of the historical inquirer.
With such data before us, it is impossible to admit
that Cordova could have “ taken over a great heritage of
leariring from Judea, Babylonia, and North Africa, in
order to increase it manifold for coming generations.”
No ; for in the eleventh century ignorance of Hebrew

1 TEe date is uncertainly given.

29S

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

reigned in the East, while in the West the knowledge
of it was beginning. It is only in Spain and during
the eleventh century that we move out of the legendary
mist into historic daylight, and can pass in review
a long line of scholars whose work is crowned by the
great Eabbin, the true Moses of the Synagogue, who
fixed its creed and its law, Maimonides.

To the famous Samuel the Prince (Nagid) of Granada
, „ , (1027) is ascribed a number of works, the

Period of very titles of which should indicate that the

Biblical literature of the Synagogue was begin-
ning. He is said to have written a Psalter, a Book of
Proverbs, a Koheleth or Ecclesiastes. He is said to have
methodised the Talmud, which we may perhaps take to
be a figure of speech for the inception of the Talmud.
He too busied himself with the catena of tradition ; in
other words, with the contrivance of an ecclesiastical
retrospective, leading up from his time to the phantom
scholai’s of the “ Great Synagogue ” through the various
dynasties between. He also wrought at Hebrew grammar
and at a practical commentary on the Talmud, which
became canonical. He corresponded with brethren in
Syria and Egypt. His name may clearly stand as
denoting that the canonical time of the Synagogue has
at least begun.

Samuel the Prince was a beloved ideal among the
Spanish Kabbins through all the Middle Ages. Two
of them who lived in the fifteenth century say of him
that “ he showed good to the Jews in Spain, Maghreb,
Africa, and Egypt.” But after his time those events
began which have been written in blood for the un-
happy people of the Synagogue. The son of E. Samuel,
named Joseph Halevy, say the good Eabbins, who
write and who think in the dialect of the Bible,

THE EISE OF HEBREW LITERATURE.

299

“walked in the ways of his father; he stood behind
him in nought, save that he was not so lowly as he,
because in his youth he had no need to fear ; so he
became proud to his destruction, and the great men of
Granada envied him, so that they did not speak friendly
with him. They rose against him on the Sabbath, the
ninth day of the tenth month (Tebet), and slew him
with the whole congregation, and the Jews who had
come from far lands that they might know of his learn-
ing and his greatness, with the sword in that fatal
time. The mourning for them spread through all lands
when these horrible tidings were heard. Observe it,
0 God, and behold and plead Thou their cause ! ” ^

At Cordova, Jona Marinus (995-1050) is said to
have been the creator of Hebrew syntax, and to have
surpassed his rival Samuel of Granada in mastery of
the sacred tongue. His great interest was Biblical
exegesis, and he is said to have abandoned childish
interpretations. These dates must be received with
caution.

Then at Malaga we come upon the Jewish Plato
— an inflated title — Salomon Ibn Gebirol

. . _ , \ "r» , 1 . 1 Ibn Gebirol.

or Avicebron (1021-1070). But this early
mediaeval philosopher passed for an Arabian, and must
have been the pupil of the Arabians. His work Mehor
Chaiim, “Fountains of Life,” was translated into
Latin in the next age — the first age for translations
into that tongue.® It may be recalled in this connection
that the Arabians produced a line of savants from
the ninth century — A 1 Klindy, Ai Farabi, Ibn Sina

1 Emek Habacka of R. Josepli Hacohett, by D. M. Wiener, 1858. Cf.
Schehet Jehuda, § 5, Chronicles of R. Joseph. Tlie date is veiy uncertain,
1064-1084. The fast of Tebet is on the loth.

^ So Jourdain, Recherches, &c,, iii, 8.

300

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

(Avicenna), A 1 Ghazil in the East ; IbnBadscha (Avem-
pace), Ibn Tofail, Ibn Eoschd (Averroes), in Spain and
Africa. Ritter observes that the names of Saadia,
Gebirol, and Maimonides may represent the beginning,
middle, and end of the connection of the. Jews with
Arabian philosophy. The like remarks may be made
of their connection with Arabian religion. It is pro-
bable that the earlier Rabbins wore the turban, and it
is doubtful whether any public synagogue could have
been built before the eleventh century.

It is unnecessary to cite the long roll of names
of Hebrew grammarians, Talmudists, commentators,
writers of psalms and prayers for sacred use in the
synagogues during the period 1000-1200. They all
write in a classical Hebrew, little differing from that of
the Bible ; nor can we discover any schools where the
Bible is so likely to have been commenced as in those
of Spain. So far as the scenery and customs are con-
cerned, there is no land which appears better to reflect
the Bible than Southern Spain; as Richard Ford in
his charming Handbook frequently notices.

It has been sometimes remarked as strange, if
Hebrew literature be of immense antiquity, that Moses
Maimonides (c. ii 40-1 205) should be looked up to by
the Rabbins as the great authority for the creed and
the customs of the Synagogue. But in the light of the
facts just considered, it is evident that no scholar could
have been better acquainted with the whole formation
of the literature of his people and the kind of authority
it possessed. It was only in his time and that of the
Emperor Frederic II. that the learned world became
distinctly conscious of three rival traditions, the Mo-
hammedan, the Jewish, and the Christian, and of an
inter-relation between them. On the part of the

THE RISE OF HEBREW LITERATURE.

301

Eabbins tbemselves there are not wanting confessions
to the effect that the pretensions to a high literary-
antiquity were not founded on fact. Thus Ben Jasus
of Toledo is said to have anticipated modem criticism,
and to have asserted that the Book of Genesis was
written many ages “ after Moses.” The criticism may
have been meant to apply also to the Arabian tradition.

Let us try to form to ourselves a picture of the
rise of the Jewish communities in Cordova, ^ ^
Granada, Seville, and Toledo. The Moslems nioieofAi

Makkari

conquered Spain, which they call Andalus,
early in the eighth century. Om* historian is here A1
Makkari, who is believed to have written only in the
eleventh century. He makes one or two references to
the people called Yahud, which can no more be under-
stood of the congregations governed by Eabbins than
the similar references in the Koran or the Chronicle of
Tabari can be. He knows nothing of Christians and
their churches, although he has some quaint allusions
to the worship of a Virgin which probably relates to
some old Roman goddess. He says that Karnattah
(Granada) was handed over to Yahud to keep. He
has an obscure reference to a Jewish poet, who was
thought to be an Islamite at heart. The indications
are extremely faint and dubious ; nor is there a word
in this writer, amidst all his descriptions of the splen-
dours of Cordova and the other cities, which would
lead us to infer that he knew of flourishing synagogues
belonging to a rival sect. The evidence is blankly
negative, equally with that of the chronicles of the
Spanish Eabbins.

We must assume, then, that in the most palmy time
of the Western caliphate, a little later than A1 Makkari,
the people called Jehud began to establish themselves

302

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

as a distinct community, ruled over by men who wielded
the imaginary “ sceptre of Judah,” and who persuaded
themselves that they were in the line of descent from
the famous King David or Daoud, honoured alike by
them and by their Moslem masters. With culture,
toleration became the fashion of Islam ; and the J ews,
who had always differed in certain customs from the
Hagarenes, ventured to acquire a literary art, a holy
language, and a sacred architecture in imitation of their
neighbours.

Of peculiar interest is the Jewry at Toledo. The
The Jewry older synagogue shows horse-shoe arches
at Toledo, springing from bastard Gothic capitals. The
decoration is Moorish. The date of its erection
has not been discovered. In 1405 it was converted
into a church under the persecuting San Vicente de
Ferrer. Its ceiling — an illustrative fact — is said to have
been made from beams of Lebanon cedars. The other
synagogue, built in the fourteenth century, shows a
mixture of Moorish and Gothic with Hebrew. It passed
to the Order of Calatrava in 1494. The walls of these
synagogues must be conscious of all that was important
in the rise and growth of Judaism. Men may have
worshipped there at the time when William the
Conqueror was landing on these shores, who knew aU
that was to be known concerning the formation of a
community of wandering traders into a nation and a
Church. But when they first landed in Spain, they
were doubtless like a rope of sand, or like the scattered
bundle of sticks in their favourite proverb.

They met in private assemblies, and encouraged one
another in the feeling of a common nationality and
religion. They formed a system of dissent from Islam,
on grounds that are imperfectly known. They learned

THE EISE OF HEBEEW LITEEATUEE.

303

to look up to the Patriarch Jacob-Israel, and to his son
Jehuda, as their progenitors. Their great ideals in the
nearer retrospective vrere Moses and David. The ideal of
David became the founder of their state, the
builder of “ Zion,” in a poetic sense. Their hearts beat
high with the hope of deliverance from their subject
condition under the renewal of the glory of the house
of Da'vdd. Son of David became the name of the
hoped-for Prince or Messias ; and one may suppose
that this projection of the Messiah into the future was
connected with a rejection of the Moslem Masich, Isa,
who had appeared in the past. In their oracles David
became first-bom son of God. “ God and David ”
became the watchword of religion and freedom.^ As
the new Pythagoreans had delighted to refer to Pytha-
goras works of their own composition in a very late age,
so the simple-hearted Pabbins delighted to trace up
all prophecy to its fountain-head in Moses, and all
psalmody to David. They read lessons from the Law
which they conceived, in common with the Moslems, to
have been given in the Arabian desert. We may listen
to the echoes of their prayers and songs in the Psalter,
and in the writings of such as Halevy, while their
sermons lie embedded in the books ascribed to Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the other prophets. The
mediaeval Cohanim and their Levites persuaded them-
selves that they stood in a glorious sacerdotal succes-
sion from the priests and Levites of the Temple of the
days of old.

Looking out from their humble meeting-places, they
encourage one another to believe that the tyranny of
Edom — that is, of the Europeans — is doomed. The

f ^ Ps. Ixxxix. 27-28 ; Hosea iii 5 ; Jer. xxx. 8, 9 ; Ez. xxxiv. 22-24 5 Zech.
xii. 8. Zunz, Bit synagogale Foesie des Mittelaltm, 1855, p. 4.

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

304

intensity of their sufferings is reflected in the violence
of their imagery, and is followed by the reaction of
extravagant hopes. Every legend about Egypt or
liabylon in the past becomes a prediction of deliverance.
The Eternal stands in indissoluble covenant with His
Spouse, the Beloved of the mystic “ Song of Solomon.”
He is Father, Friend, King, Kedeemer. Prayer, since
the time of the uprise of the Iconoclasts, has replaced
sacrifices; it is a higher duty, and protects from the
pains of hell. A simple ritual, consisting of the
Schemah or confession of the Divine unity, the Tefilla
or prayer proper, and the Keduscha or glorification of
God, was gradually formed and enriched during this
period. The great Day of Atonement reminded of the
religious duties of repentance and amendment as the con-
ditions of forgiveness ; while Purim cemented natural
feeling in recollection of sufferings and a deliverance,
which, under the form of allegory, may be regarded as
strictly historical.

If, in the light of a strict scrutiny of the evidence.
Persecutions tl^e I'ise of Plebrew literature in Spain cannot
of the Jews, regarded as a renaissance, but must be

regarded as a beginning, the Bible and the Talmud
first become of close and vital interests as the litera-
ture of a people who have become known to us since
the time of the Norman conquests. They become the
mirror of actual history, and no longer of our own
capricious fancies. We listen to the cries of the people
against the incessant extortion of Edom, whose word is
ever, “ Give ! give ! ” their plaints of poverty, and of the
endeavours of their foes to rob them of what was left,
their moral reputation, and even of their lives. They
are treated as dogs, as the filth of the streets, as lying
witnesses, sitting in a comer and daring no reply to

THE EISE OF HEBREW LITERATURE.

305

slanders. They are taunted with the failure of their
Messianic hopes. “ Where is then- God ? Where is this
edifice of the Judaism of the future? Why are the
sons of kings so cast down ? ” cry the worshippers of
Moloch and of Baal. “Why does not the son of Jesse
come ? Why do the chariot- wheels of Jehovah delay ? ”
The oppressors shake their heads as they cast a glance
upon the poor, mad, dreaming Rabbin. His hope flees
like the cloud, they say, and his eyes run down with
tears. The famous passage in the fifty-third of Isaiah
is the very ideal, painted in the deepest colomrs of
experience, of the Mediaeval Rabbin. Was there ever
sorrow like his ?

One cannot read the chronicles of the Rabbins relating
to the Crusades without burning shame and indignation.
The rank and file of the warriors of the Cross were
mostly composed of what honest Prebendary Thomas
Puller calls the “Devil’s Blackguard.” One would
fain hope that the atrocities they committed in the
synagogues have been exaggerated. They appear,
however, to he too well authenticated by the voices of
too many witnesses from the Synagogue, which has
more justly earned the honours of saintdom and martyr-
dom than any religious community in the world.
“Beware of denying the Only One, of forsaking thy
faith, of breaking thy truth,” the Rabbins incessantly
exhort ; and in response, to quote from Zunz, “ Noble
spirits exerted their finest sap, pressed flowers gave
forth their perfume, and the fettered became freer than
the jailors.” It is later that the warnings in the best
Jewish moral literature against the “worship of the
dead,” meaning the rites of old religion, and against
idols, belong. The Gentile cultus is Baal’s worship ;
baptism is defilement; a church is a “house of errors.”

3o6 the EISE of CHRISTENDOM.

Temble are the tales of suicide, of the sacrifice of
children by their own parents, that the sin of apostasy
might be avoided and that the unity of the Eternal
might be exalted. Beautiful women, youths and aged
men, went to their fiery doom, chanting, “Hear, 0
Israel, the Lord our God is one God ! ” It was the
last cry of hride and bridegroom, who were united in
life, and were not divided in their sacrificial death.

Writing of the English persecutions, honest Thomas
Euller says, “Endless it were to reckon up the in-
dignities offered unto the Jews, on occasion sometimes
given, but oftener taken. Apprentices nowadays do
not throw sticks at cocks on Shrove Tuesday so com-
monly as then on that day they used clubs on the
Jews, if appearing out of their houses ; a people equally
unhappy at feasts and at frays. For whensoever the
Christians at any revels made great entertainments, the
Jews were made to pay the reckoning. And whereso-
ever any brawl began in London, it ended always in
the Old Jewry, with pillaging of the people therein.
What good heart can, without grief, recount the injuries
offered to those who once were the only people of
Godl”

We dwell upon these matters because no literature
can be understood except in relation to the life of the
people from which it springs, and because it may be
said that the Bibhcal writers, in the larger sense of the
term, extend down to the seventeenth century, and
yield us massive evidence of the real historical con-
ditions under which the whole of the Synagogue
literature was composed. It is one of the strangest
things in the world that in our churches should stiU
be chanted psalms of malediction, which no doubt
“ never cost a Christian his life,” but which must have

THE RISE OE HEBREW LITERATURE.

307

been directed by the Eabbins against the precursors of
the Christians.

At this late epoch in the history of literature, we
have still to ask, How it has come to pass TheBiWeiu
that the Old Testament remains an un-
intelligible book to the critics 1 For it can-
not be denied that what is called Old Testament
criticism is nothing but the record of a series of
fumblings and stumblings on the part of learned men,
and that little has been gained except the gradual
conviction that these writings are of much later origin
than tradition has accustomed us to believe.

The cause of this failure has been the baseless
assumption as to the origin and date of the Hebrew
books ; and secondly, the assumption that they were
designed to impart exact geographical and historical
information. In so far as the contents of the Bible
run parallel to the great Arabian tradition, we have
shown that these contents are based upon the Arabian
tradition, or upon some tradition common to both the
Arabians and the Jews. And with regard to those
parts of the Old Testament which are peculiar to the
Synagogue, we may in a few words show that they are
alone intelligible in the light of Mediaeval times.

The* analogy of the Koran and the Old Testament
holds good so far, that neither the one book nor the
other can be understood apart from the light shed upon
them from the class of men with whom they originated ;
that is, in the case of the Old Testament, from the
authors of the poetry, the sermons, and the expositions
composed for the use of the Synagogue, and further
from the chronicles of Mediaeval Eabbins. It will be
necessary to offer only a few illustrations of the sym-
bolical use of Bible names, which will indicate the

3oS THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

actual world in which the Bible writers were actually
liying and moving.

Let us revert for a moment to the Table of Nations
in Genesis x. It is a Mediaeval hrain-map, derived
from classical and Arabian somrces. By the sons
of Japhet, the Jerusalem Targum understands Africa,
Germany, Media, Macedonia, Athens, Assos ( 1 ), Thrace,
Asia, Phrygia or Persia, Barharia, Hellas (or Elis?),
Tarsus, Italy, Dodona, vers. 2-4.

Under the kingdom of Babel, Edessa, Nisibis, and
Otesiphon are named ; under the Assyrian, Nineveh and
Artagigarta, vers. 10, ii. Then we find after Mizraim
the names Mareotes (Moors?), Pentapolis, Lusitania
(or Lycia), Pelusium, Pantascenitse, Philisteei, and Cap-
padoces,Hivu8eus, Tripolis, Arcsei, Caparossa, Antara^os,
Emessa, Antioch, vers. 13-18.

E. Joseph sees in the Gomer and Eiphath the
Franks of the Gironde and the Seine, and the Bretons
of the Loire.

The Semitic tribes are all, as children of Eber,
Ibrim or Hebrews. Yet the names Joktan, Almodad,
Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, &c., all point to an
Arabian source, as the place Mesha probably denotes
Mecca.^

There is, then, nothing distinctly Jewish in the Table
of the Nations, nothing even that indicates a writer
viewing the world from a standpoint in the East. It
sketches a map of the world ; and if we are to judge
of his position by considering what objects he de-
scribes most clearly, we may place him in the West
of Europe. There is some advance in geographical
description over the Moslem chronicler, who simply
sets down the Arabians and Persians and the best

^ See A1 Malckari, of the eleventh century, in Gayangos.

THE EISE OF HEBEEW LITEEATUEE.

309

people as Semitic, the black people as Hamitic, and
the Turks, Sclaves, and Magyars as Japhetic.

But there is little geographical information in any
other part of the Bible. The constantly symbolism
recurring names, which we have been wont of*i>®Bibie.
to understand of cities and lands, are really symbolic
of institutions, societies, powers. The historical prin-
ciple of the Biblical writers is very simple. The
world revolves about Judaism. The interest of the
present and future is concentrated in the chosen
people of the Synagogue, and is reflected in the forms
of historic retrospection or allegorical contemplation.
The world exists as a theatre for the enactment of a
divine drama in which the Synagogue is always acting
or suffering the leading part. There is no interest
in the nations except as the conquerors, allies, or pos-
sible subjects of the Jews.

Judah and Jerusalem are, in general, poetic terms,
signifying the people of the Dispersion, who are the
Praise of the Lord, and the Heritage of Peace, amidst
whom kings of righteousness have reigned, where is
the altar and hearth of the Most High, and whence His
Word hath ever gone forth. The people is the Vine-
yard planted by the right hand of the Eternal in the
midst of an idolatrous multitude, of whom Baal is the
constant symbol; she is the Vine itself, “brought up
out of Egypt,” that is tended in the state of captivity
by the Divine hand. She is the Bride, the Spouse, the
Garden of the Eternal. When the poets sing of
Lebanon, they seem to be thinking of some superb
roof like that of the sjmagogue at Toledo. The grief
of the persecuted worshippers is the mourning of
Lebanon, the desecration of the synagogues its fall.
Bashan, and Carmel, and Gilead have the like symbolic

310

THE HISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

reference to the sacred place of meeting in a strange
land ; Jordan is a symbolic river, separating the chosen
people from the world ; the land of Jordan and the pride
or swelling of Jordan are no prosaic allusions to physical
phenomena, but to national ideas.

Profuse is the employment of the image of the valley
by the poets, still in no topographical sense : the Vale
of the judgment of God, the Vale of decision, the Vale
of sorrow, the fat Vales, the Vale of acacias, the Vales
of blessing and of weeping, the Vale of vision, and so
on, signify the homes of Judaism. The Hebrew words
are quite general and vague.

The holy cities, the cities of Judah, their watch-
towers, denote the settlements of Jews ; and the con-
gregation of God, and “all the holy places of God in
the land,” are plainly the synagogues, viewed by the
psalmist in an affecting picture as broken down, their
fine wood-work hacked to pieces (Ps. Ixxiv.). Their
Bdmoth, or high places, sanctuaries or chapels served
by their Cohanim or priestly Kabbins, and their rich
furniture, are also simply the Mediaeval synagogues,
contrasted with the high places of Baal, the temples in
which images are still preserved — the tents of vanity,
or the houses of Baal Peor. The Mediaeval Kabbins
delighted in considering that, as sprung of a royal
and sacerdotal stock, the name David is symbolic of
their pretensions, which are set forth in the Bible under
the figure of the Horn of David, the Throne of David,
the Tower of David, and the House of David, the
Sprout of David, and the like.

There is something almost childish in the vanity with
which the Spanish Rabbins delighted in rivalry with
the “ nobles of the Hagarenes.” Their status was no
doubt splendid to ostentation (a weakness of the Jews)

THE EISE OE HEBEEW LITEEATUEE.

until the calamities of the latter part of the eleventh
century fell upon them. A chronicler of the fifteenth
century describes them as riding out of Toledo each
day in 700 chariots ; and all will remember the striking
invectives ascribed to the Pro23het Isaiah against the
finery of the Jewish ladies.

Where were these synagogues? There is a poetic
passage in the Bible which plainly indicates Biblical ae-
that they were at the date of its composition to ^nd
be found in Spain. The consideration of this
passage leads us into the heart of Mediaeval Judaism.

“They of the south occupy the Mount of Esau, and they of the
plain the Philistines.

“And they of the mountains occupy the fields of Ephraim and the
fields of Samaria, and Benjamin, Gilead.

“ And the banished ones of this coast ^ of the sons of Israel the
cities of the Canaanites unto Zarephath.

“ And the banished ones of Jerusalem which are in Sepharad occupy
the cities of the south.

“ And saviours come unto Mount Sion to judge the Mount of Esau,

“And the kingdom hecometh Jehovah’a” — Obad. 19, 20.

Now Sepharad means in the holy language of Judaism
Spain and nothing hut Spain. Zarephath no less dis-
tinctly means France. Nor is it possible to throw a
clearer light upon the passage than by citing from the
Spanish Eabbin Joseph (c. 1496-1575), who describes
himself as “son of Joshua, son of Meir, son Eabw Joseph
of Jehudah, son of Joshua, son of Jehuda,
son of David, son of Moses, of the priests who
went forth from Huete from the land of Sepharad.”
His book is “ a memorial of the multitude of afflictions
which we have experienced in the countries of the
Gentiles from the day that Jehudah was led captive

^ Or host or fortress.

THE EISE OF CHEISTEHDOH.

from his country until this day; and of the wars
of the kings of the Gentiles which they have warred
in the land of Jehudah and Jerusalem, and the exiles
from Zarephath and Sepharad, that the sons of Israel
may know it. And I have gathered in Israel after the
reapers, as my hand hath found it, here a little and
there a little. Therefore also I shook my lap to write
a book of the chronicles of the kings of Zarephath and
of Sepharad and of the kings of the house of Othman ;
and to put these times in a book, and to write how
these Eg3rptians wronged us as well as our fathers, that
the remembrance thereof may not pass away from
among the Jews, nor the memory come to an end from
their seed, until the lame shall leap as a hart and the
tongue of the dumb sing. Sing praises unto the Lord,
for He hath done glorious things ? This is known in
every land.”

In his chronicles, Esau or Edom constantly stands
for the Koman Empire in the mediseval sense; Ash-
kenaz is Germany ; “ Egyptians ” means the same with
“Edomites.”

The passage in Obadiah, in the light of this com-
mentary, is simply a description of the Jews living in
the midst of the “ Idumeans,” i.e., the people of the
provinces of the old Roman Empire. The Israelites
dwell in “ Mount Esau,” that is, in old Roman territory,
chiefly in Spain. Plainly, therefore, “cities of the
Canaanites,” is simply symbolical for cities of Israel’s
enemies in that land, and “Canaan” is constantly a
symbol of an idolatrous people. Philistines probably
stand for the Moors; Ephraim, Samaria, the Mount
of Samaria, and Gilead, and Manasseh, and Benjamin
appear to be all poetic synonyms. If the “Gate of
Benjamin ” is in the north of Jewry proper, is identical

THE EISE OF HEBEEW LITEEATUEE.

313

with the “ Gate of Ephraim,” the Jews in the north
of Europe may be signified.

In order to show that the vivid representations in
the Prophets of the prostrate and desolate g
condition of the Jews after some terrible on the Cru-
persecution really refer to the time of the
Crusades, it is of course necessary to show that they
cannot be related to any earlier event in the history
of Judaism. Now the fact is that the Book of Tradi-
tion, or the Rabbinical chroniclers down to the six-
teenth century, have no distinct knowledge of any
occurrence of the kind until they come to the year
1096. Their meagre and inaccurate account of the
preceding thousand years has been borrowed chiefly
from the Arabians and the monastic chroniclers. The
fact that a Spanish Rabbin should begin with Adam,
and dispose of the int^al between him and the first
Crusade in a few rambling pages, seems decisive of the
question.^ In the Valley of Baca, by the same author,
he admits that he used Christian books. It seems,
then, conclusive that the Bibhcal writer of a late time
is a sure index to the date when the memory of the
first Biblical writer begins.

Now what is the Rabbinical-Hebrew account of the
first Crusade 1 Let us try to separate his own The First
thoughts from the particulars he has derived
from the monks, and ascertain how far he follows in
the wake of the old Biblical tradition.

R. Joseph says that there arose against the Jews
“ a nation of fierce countenance, that spared not the
persons of the old, nor had compassion on children.”

^ So Abraham Zacuto, a Spanish Rabbin, formed a Rabbinical succession
from Adam down to 1 500 a.d. I. Disraeli, Genius of Judamn^ 84. I have
not been able to see Zacuto's work.

314

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

He says that the year 1096 was one of sorrow for
Jacob ; that they were given over to plunder in the
countries of the uncircumcised in all the places where
they were scattered. He says that “their sorrows and
desolations are written in the Law of Moses.” And
indeed in the Book of Deuteronomy, with the corre-
sponding passages in the Prophets, we find his terrible
description almost word for word.^

He compai’es the invading hosts to a multitude of
locusts, precisely as the Prophet Joel does.® He iden-
tifies the Germans and the French with the people of
“ the fierce countenance.” He tells how they resolved
to destroy the Jews from being a nation (in revenge
for their Messias), so that the name of the Jews should
be had no more in remembrance, unless they would
change their glory and be as themselves. He tells
how the Ashkenazim or German Jews had their heai'ts
melted and became as water; how fear took hold on them
and pain as on a woman in travail ; how they bare their
lives in their hands, proclaimed a fast, and cried to the
Lord in their distress,® who covered Himself with a
cloud that the prayer should not pass through.^

In Trier, on the Sabbath-day, i8th of lyar, ten men
of the congregation were slain with the edge of the
sword “because they would not be defiled with the
proud water.”® A pious woman chose death rather
than life ; she took a knife and slew herself because
she would not be defiled. She was the first of them
that slew themselves. She said, “ The Lord is my por-
tion ; I wait on Him.” ® The rest were saved by the

1 Dent, xxviii. 49 seq. ; Jer. v. 15, vi. 22. The terror always comes
from “the hTorth.”

2 Chap. ii. ® Of. Joel i. 13-15. * Joel ii. 2 ; Lam. ii. i, iii 44.

® This detail is probably proleptic. ® Lam. iii. 24.

THE RISE OF HEBREW LITERATURE.

315

hand of the “ bishop,” for his eyes had compassion on
them, and he delivered them out of the hand of
the enemy. Eliezer, son of Nathan the Levite, wrote
an elegy for the slain.

At Worms, the 23rd of the same month, was another
“ day of the Lord’s vengeance.” The books of the
Law were cast to the ground and trodden under foot,
and the oppressors uttered their voice in the house of
the Lord as in the day of solemn fast.^ They devoured
Israel with open jaws, and left but a small gleaning,
whom they turned away from the Lord, the God of
Israel, but who, when the storm was overpast, returned
to the God of their fathers. They that were slain
had sanctified the Holy God of Israel, and chose death
rather than life, that they might not be defiled. Many
slew themselves, each his brother and his neighbour,
his dear wife and his children, even compassionate
mothers their children,^ with all their heart and with all
their soul, who cried, Hear, 0 Israel!”^ when they
breathed forth their spirit on their mothers’ bosoms.

Seven days later, on the ist Sivan, there was another
massacre, and again the martyrs slew their neigh-
bours, and the mothers and children wei'e dashed to
pieces in the day of the Lord’s anger. ^ A small
remnant only escaped. The number of those who died
during twelve days was eight hundred souls. Simchah
Ha-Cohen, a young priest, slew a relative of the
“bishop’s,” a councillor of the city, and was pierced
with swords that he died.

The good Eabbin weeps and laments for those martyrs

^ Of. Lam. ii. 7 and Ps. Ixxiv. : “ He hath thrown down in His wrath
the strongholds of the daughter of Jndah.”

2 Lam. iY. 10. ^ Deut. vi. 4, 5.

^ Of. the vindictive passages, Isa. xiii. 16 ; Ps. cxxxvii. 8, 9, with Hos.
X. 14, xiii. i6 ; Neh. iii. 10.

3 i6 the rise of CHEISTENDOK

with a mourning like the jackals or the daughters of
the ostrich.^

On the 3 rd Sivan there ensued a massacre at Mainz,
and again the unhappy martyrs put forth their hands
to the desire of their eyes and slew their wives and
children.® The women took part in the slaughter on
that accursed day. Some of the old men covered them-
selves with the praying-veils, and said, “He is the
Eock ; His works are perfect.” ® “ Teach the daughters
of Israel to lament for this, and one woman to teach
another lamentations ; for behold ! valiant ones lament
in the streets and ambassadors of peace weep bitterly
for this holy congregation, against which the hewers
have come up with axes as hewers of wood. ” ^ Thirteen
hundred souls were spoiled at this dread time.

It is when we peruse these awful details that we
begin to understand in what age the cry was heard of
the preacher in the synagogue, “ Thy holy cities are a
wilderness, Zion a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers
praised Thee, is burned up with fire, and aU our pleasant
things are laid waste. Wilt Thou refrain Thyself for
these things, O Lord 1 Wilt Thou hold Thy peace and
afflict us very sore ? ”

There is nothing in all tragedy more affecting than
the story of Uri and of Isaac, who had two daughters.
They were subjected to force, but returned to the God
of their fathers. Isaac slew them on the Feast of Weeks
in the evening, kindled his house and brought to the
Lord a sacrifice ; for with his friend Uri he went into
the house of God before the ark, and they died before

1 Of. Mic. i. 8. ® Cf. Ezek. xxiv. i6. ® Deut. xxxii. 4.

^ See tke laments in Jer. ix. 19 ; Isa, xxxiii, 7 ; and the image of the
hewers with axes in Ps. Ixxiv. 5 ; Jer. xlvi, 22 ; Ezek. xxvi. 9.

THE RISE OF HEBREW LITERATUER

317

the Lord as the flame went up, and their souls fled to
heaven. “My heart,” exclaims the Babbin, “is with
the slain, and with them which are burned in the fire ;
my soul refuses to be comforted. Plead, O Lord, the
cause of the souls ; judge righteous judgment, and
avenge Thou the blood of Thy servants which was
spiUed ; as it is written, I will demand their blood that
I have not cleansed, for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.” ^
Similar scenes of horror were enacted at Cologne and
other places. At Wevelinghoven old E. Samuel took
a knife and slew his young son, pronouncing a blessing
on the sacrifice, the youth crying Amen ! Who is it
that here exclaims, “ Behold and see, all ye that pass
by the way, if there be any sorrow like unto their
sorrow. Was there ever such a thing heard from the
day that the Lord created man upon the earth 1 Woe
unto the eyes which beheld it ! ” ^ The beadle of the
synagogue, a young man, strengthened himself, and
slew the father on the corpse of the son. After this
massacre there were not left save two or three berries
on the top of the uttermost bough.®

B. Isaac Ha-Levy, who drowned himself in the Ehine,
has applied to him the text, “ I will bring back from
the depths of the sea.” * At another vineyard of the
Lord in the same district three hundred souls con-
sented to martyrdom ; and at Santen others in like
manner “ hallowed the day when the woodcutter came
upon ” those cedars of the Lord.®

A striking incident is recorded in connection with
the synagogue at Meurs, where the governor of the city

1 Of. Joel iii. 21 ; cf. Jer. iv. 19, ‘‘evil from the North,” xxxi. 15 ; the
symbolic Babel, Lam, i. 16.

2 Lam. i, 12. ® Isa. xvii. 6, xxiv. 13 ; Jer, xlix. 9; Obad. 5.

^ Ps. Ixviii. 23. ^ Cf. J er. xxii. 7.

3iS THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

intercedes for the Jews and delivers a political speech
to them, which awakens reminiscences of scenes con-
nected with King Hezekiah and the Prophet Isaiah.

At Gilria the people, says the chronicler, were made
to drink of the cup of the Lord’s fury to the dregs.^
He gave them to be robbed and plundered, and none
escaped nor remained in the day of the Lord’s anger.
The language of the prophets constantly rises to his
lips, “ Those that I have swaddled and brought up hath
mine enemy consumed.” ® He repeats the elegiac strain
of the Lamentations, “his eye flows with water.”® He
calls upon the daughters of Israel to weep over the
slain. “ Clothe not yourselves in silk garments, put not
on crimson ; for because of our transgressions is glory
despoiled from Judah.” *

Treves and Metz and Katisbon and Prague all con-
tributed martyrs during that temble summer. And
here again a curious light is reflected upon an obscure
Biblical passage. In Chron. iv. 9, amidst a long
catalogue of the descendants of Jehuda, we read of
Jabez “the Sorrowful,” that he was held in peculiar
honour. Of others we read, “ These were the potters,
and those that dwelt among plants and hedges ; there
they dwelt with the king for his work ” (v. 23).

The chronicler appHes these words to the German
martyrs, and they are said to mean that they were the
workmen and gardeners of the Eternal, furthering by

1 In Jer. xxv. 9 the calamity of the “families of the North” is de-
scribed. After seventy years the “ king of Babylon ” and the “ Chaldeans ”
are to be punished. All nations, all the kings of the North, no less than
Judah and Jerusalem, are to drink of the wine-cup of fury and become
mad because of the sword sent among them. In Isa. li. 17--22 Jerusalem
has drunk of this cup, but shall drink no more.

^ See the terrible context, Lam, ii. 15-22 ; cf. Hos. ix. 12, 13.

® Lam. i. 16, ir. 21. Here too Edom— Eome— shall drink of the cup.

^ Cf. Jer. ix. 17-20.

THE EISE OF HEBEEW LITEEATUEE.

319

their suflferings His designs for the salvation of the
world. “ They gave up their souls for His sake, whose
blood was spilled like water. And He will give back
to them according to them doings, and according to the
works of their hands ; and their souls will be bound
up in the bundle of life,^ in the temple of the King, the
Lord of Hosts ; and their purity and then: righteous-
ness will stand as a defence for us. Amen and Amen.”

The Eabbin here declares that he has taken his
account of the martyrs of the Crusade from a contem-
porary writer, K. Eliezer, and that he has compared the
German annals. He is, in fact, confirmed by those of
Mainz and Hildesheim. He then proceeds to trace
the fate of the Crusaders on the march ; how the Eternal
avenged upon them the blood of His servants ; how the
uncircumcised fell by the sword, by famine, and by
pestilence, so that few were left ; how they took and
polluted the land of Israel and Judah with their abomi-
nations and idols for eighty-eight years, till at last the
verse was fulfilled, “Your enemies shall be desolate
upon her.”

About fifty years later great calamities fell upon
Israel. The Kabbi Joseph says that about cessation of
1 142 the academies ceased, and the study of
the Law was at an end. The date is not quite certain,
but the evil time is marked in memory by the death of
the pious Spanish Eabbin Joseph Halevy and by “ years
of exile and suflFering.” Ben Tamari arose in Tamnrtor
the land of the Arabs, an enemy of the Jews, ^amurath.
He issued a decree in all the cities of his kingdom that
they should renounce their God, so that they had to
quit their abodes, doomed to death, to the sword, to
famine, to captivity. He said, “ Go to, we will destroy

1 I Sara. XXV. 29.

320

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

them from being a nation, that Israel’s name may be
remembered no more ; ” and he left them no name in
his -whole kingdom and provinces, which he had con-
quered from the end of the earth unto A1 Mahadia/

In those days the hand of Alphonso VIII., son of
Eaymond of Burgundy, was heavy on the Ishmaelites
of the land of Sepharad, and his kingdom was estab-
lished. He took from the Ishmaelites Gaberkah or
Calatrava, which was on the way from the land of
Ishmael to his own country ; and the rebellious people
in the land of Philistia (Saracens of Africa) passed over
the sea into Sepharad ; and there was no remnant of
Israel left from Tangiers to A1 Mahadia. The Jews,
hearing that the rebelhous ones were coming to cast
them away from the God of Israel, fled for their
lives; and the parents scarce had compassion on the
children for the weakness of their hands. Some of them
were bound by the hand of Edom, and were sold to
them, that they might escape from the land of Ishmael ;
some fled barefoot, and their children vainly asked for
bread. But their cry went up to God, and He put it
into the heart of Alphonso to set over Gebarkah as
treasurer R. Jehuda the prince, son of E. Joseph ben
Ezra, descendant of the great men of Granada, whose
power in Jerusalem was hereditary.

This noble offshoot of the stem of Judah was a great
benefactor to the remnant of the Captmty. He de-
livered them from chains, fed and clothed them, and
sent the weak on horses and mules to Toledo. His
goodness and generosity were equal to his influence ; he
wrought out the ordinances of the Eternal for Israel.®

1 On tins occasion the famous R. Joseph Kimchi, or his father, R, Yischak,
settled in Narbonne.

® Dent, xxsiiii. 21. Wiener, BchM Jehudah, 3rd part.

THE EISE OF HEBEEW LITEEATL'EE.

321

The second Crusade (1146) was also a time to the
house of Jacob “of sorrow’ and oppression, The second
of emptiness, desolation, and destruction, of
smiting of the knees together*. Much pain was in all
loins and their faces gathered blackness.”^

A new series of atrocities began in the towns of Ger-
many, and the Jews ran to the rocks and strongholds
to save their lives from the confederates of Baal. After
a massacre at Wui*tzburg (1147), it is said that all
who were slain were next day gathered together, and
“ were carried in waggons, every sound limb, thigh, and
shoulder, and the thumbs of the hands,” and they were
buried in the bishop’s garden. It was bought by R.
Rachakiah and his w’ife Judith for a burial-place.^

After an account of the martyrdom of Rabbins in
France and Spain in 1171, the chronicler ob-
ser*ves that the fast which followed should be the Byents of
greater than the fast of Gedaliah, and that
the Jews then began to observe a fast for the occasion.

After the account of the massacre in London (1190),
the chronicler relates how at Bruges the Gentile
murderer of a Jew was seized, brought out on the day
of Purim, and hanged on a tree, although he was servant
to the king of Zarephath. This was followed by the
burning of eighty Jews. Next year occurred the mas-
sacre of York, and the story of bloodshed continues
to the end of the century.

Upon this review of the evidence it seems impossible
to resist the conclusion that the “ great slaughter ” of
1096, allegorically spoken of as the coming of “Nebu-

^ Nah. ii. 10.

2 To what can the fearful parable, Ezek. xxiv. 3 seq.^ of the boiling pot
with the good pieces, the thighs and shoulders, the choice pieces, refer but
to some such occurrence ?

X

322

THE RISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

chadnezzar ” against Judah and Jerusalem, was the
event which has left so unparalleled an impression
on the literature of the synagogues and on the fasts
of the Jews. When we look outside the Bible to the
Eabbins of the twelfth century, we find in their com-
mentaries, their songs of Zion, their elegies and prayers,
the most decisive evidence of the correctness of this
view. The Targum on the Prophets from the thirteenth
century is full of mourning over “ the temple in ruins.”
Eome is inveighed against precisely as the prophets
inveighed against Edom or Esau. Germany is iden-
tified with a name in Ezekiel (xxxviii. 6). Here we
have, in the words of E. Deutsch, a “ masked history,
written under the bloody censorship of Esau — ^Rome.”
It points out a large number of Messianic passages in
the Bible which began to inspire the people not earlier
than the twelfth century. The whole world of Biblical
legend is here what Islam has said or sung in all its
tongues.^ The Targum on the Pentateuch, describing
the breaking up of the Western Empire, mentions the
Turks (Gen. x. 2), and so on. The Targum to Daniel
shows a writer who looks back on the first Crusade
and the calamities of the Jews ; he talks of the Messiah,
son of Joseph, of the true Messiah, son of David, of
Gog and Magog ; in short, he is full of the events that
led to the foundation of the Latin kingdom in the East.
In the Targum on Zech. xii. 10, Messiah, son of Eph-
raim, is described as warring against Gog, by whom he
is slain.

With regard to the fasts of the Jews, all, with the
The Fasts G^ception of the Day of Atonement, appear
to have been instituted in memory of the
attack of the allegorical “king of Babylon” on the

1 E. Deutscli in Smitli’s Bkt. of Bible, art. Versiona Targum.

THE RISE OF HEBREW LITERATURE.

323

synagogues. As to Gedaliah, the account of him
closes the Biblical legendaiy record. He, after the
siege by Nebuchadnezzar, becomes ruler of the remnant
of Judah. He comforts them and assures them of
safety under the “ Chaldeans,” precisely as the good
Spanish Rabbin is said to have done. Then one “ Ish-
mael ” is said to smite both the Jews and the Chaldeans,
and a migration takes place to “Eg5^t.” Finally,
another “King of Babylon” takes the “King of
Judah ” out of prison and exalts him to honour. The
meaning is tolerably transparent, however S3Tnbolic the
imagery may be. After the terrible events with which
the eleventh century closed and the next opened, there
was on the whole a recovery of hope, as the uprise of
Alrui and other Messiahs showed. In some of the late
prophecies ascribed to Zechariah, the preacher seems
to teU the people that so much mourning is now idle,
and that it were well to turn the fasts to more moral
account, and to celebrate them with the gladness of
hope.^

The like feeling is plainly shown in the Book of
Esther, and in the idea of the feast of Purim, when
they recalled the days wherein they rested from their
enemies, and the month which was turned unto them
from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good
day.

We come to a point of great importance, namely, to
ascertain when and where the literature of
the Synagogue became known to the monks
of St. Basil and of St. Benedict, who are the Abbots,
earliest writers in the interests of the Church. It can
hardly be denied that apostates from the Synagogue
were in some sort allies of the founders of the Catholic

1 Chaps, vii., viii.

3=4

THE RISE OE CHEISTEHDOM.

Church. The activity of informers and apostates was
an additional thorn in the side of the persecuted people.
These men, induced by revenge, vanity, or lucre, are
said to have been the authors of the worst slanders
launched against their people; the charges of slaughter-
ing children, drinking blood, poisoning springs, and
the like. To them also has been traced literary
forgeries, which have had their influence in concealing
from us the knowledge of the past.^ Informers are
denounced in the Law, and a Eabbin explains the
“ sons of my mother who were incensed against me ” in
the Song of Songs (i. 6) of treacherous Israelites who
ally with idolaters against their brethren for the sake
of gold. Such complaints are constant in the period
under consideration. It was this class of men who
helped the monks to contrive those clamorous writings
adverszcs Judceos, which the monks then proleptically
referred to the fourth century and later times, when
the Jews had not yet been heard of in any part of our
world.

The two Joseph!, namely, Josephus Hebrseus and
The Two Tlavius Josephus, are both spurious writers,
josephi. former has long borne the name of the

false Josephus, but the second has no more claim to be
genuine than the former.

The first, or Josippon Gorionides, is said to have
been an Italian Jew of the tenth century. We may
remark, however, that all particulars concerning Jewish
writers in Italy before the eleventh or twelfth century
are equally indistinct with those concerning the Jewish
writers in Spain, and it is more probable that Josippon
wrote in a later age.

His Chronicle is conceived in Biblical language and

^ Zunz, u, s, 13.

THE EISE OE HEBREW LITERATURE. 325

style, and is held to have been based upon an Arabian
Chronicle.^ The fact is important, for “ Flavius Jose-
phus ” closely resembles Josippon in the general char-
acter of his legends ; and since both Flavius Josephus
and Philo, together with the Greek chronographers,
such as G. Syncellus, are solely traceable to the monks of
St. Basil, we appear to have here detected the channel
through which the notions about the antiquities of the
Jews were received into the cloisters. There are also
some notices by the interpolator of the Lexicon of
Suidas, who can be none other than a Basilian monk,
which appear to have been derived from Josippon.

But neither of these Chronicles of these forgers
of history, nor the LXX. itself, follow the Hebrew
canonical text. And it is difficult to suppose that if
that canonical text had been fixed so early as the end
of the eleventh century, it should not have been
followed by these chroniclers. The Basilian Order
probably did not arise in South Italy or Sicily until
the twelfth century. At that time there were pro-
bably a large number of Jews in Calabria, who were
parties to the hopes and ambitions of the rising
synagogues, and who aided. in the construction of its
literature. The canon of the Hebrew Bible may not
have been fixed until the time of Maimonides. We
may therefore fairly conclude that the first attempts
at Jewish historiography, based upon that of the Arabs,
were made dming the century 1050-1150.

The most important clue, perhaps, on the side of
the monks of St. Basil which connects them
with the Jewish scholars is contained in the
Life of St. Nilus, honoured at Eossano, in Calabria, and

1 Zimz, Gottesd, Vortrdge^ pp. 150, 281, n. 2; Graetz, Gtsch, d. Judm,^ 5.
281, 356.

326 THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

founder of the celebrated Basilian cloister of Grotta
Ferrata, near Frascati, according to the traditional date,
about the year 1002. The date is no doubt proleptic
by more than a century. And the Life of St. Nilus,
■which may be read in the Bollandist Acts, is in the
usual official style, betra3dng a distance on the part of
the writer from his subject. But in the Life of St.
Nilus it is said that he in-vited the Calabrian Jewish
scholar, S. Domnolo of Oria, near Otranto, and
another to visit him in his cell, and to read the Law
and Prophets as long as Moses tarried on Mount
Sinai, but that they refused. This Domnolo is recog-
nised in Jewish mediaeval records as the author of a
“ Commentary on the Book of Creation ; ” but as Dr.
Graetz states, his work did not become generally known
until the twelfth century, the age, in all probability,
when the Lives of the great saint of the south, St. Nilus,
and the great saint of the north of Italy, St. Romuald,
were composed.

About 1040-1070 Messina and the east coast of
Sicily, Calabria, and Longobardia were part of the
Eastern Empire. About 1105 Sicily and the south of
Italy had passed into the hands of the Normans, and
the Latin kingdoms had been formed in Syria through
the Crusade. It was a most important epoch, not only
for the general history of the world, but specially both
for Judaism and Monachism. The districts refen-ed to
became a sort of Holy Land of Monachism. Cape
Garganus, with its church dedicated to the archangel
Michael, was a great resort of pilgrims ; it is connected
in legend with the names of Otto III., and with
Adalbert of the great house of Monte Cassino. At
Beneventum was the tomb of St. Bartholomew. North-
wards, we trace the course of the Basilians to Gaeta,

THE EISE OF HEBEEW LITEEATTJEE.

327

where the legend tells that St. Mlus was living with
his brethren like nomads in “the tents of Israel.”
Here Otto III. is supposed to play the part of a
penitent David, and lays his crown in the hands of St.
Nilus, a scene destined to be embellished by the pencil
of Domenichino in Grotta Ferrata. As at Messina,
Palermo, Monreale, Saracinesco, we are reminded of
the transition from the Saracen to the Norman archi-
tecture, so in the early records of the Italian Jews,
the Basilians, and the Benedictines of Monte Oassino
of the thirteenth century are traced the beginnings of
that great Catholic system which followed in the wake
of the Saracens and of the Jews.

Slowly the monks appear to have won a seat for
themselves in Borne. It is obvious that in jubMnain
no part of the world could they have made
way until the Jews, against whom their arguments are
ever directed, had appeared. We hear of a Babbin
in Borne about the year 1050 who writes against the
symbolical Edom precisely like the prophet Obadiah,
and doubtless with the same meaning. But it is not
till about a hundred years later that we hear of the rise
of the Leoni family, who give an occupant to the chair
of St. Peter, or that we hear of a schola or synagogue
of the Jews.

Nothing can be more important on the side of the
Synagogue than the evidence which it supplies of an
unbroken series of Babbins from the eleventh century
onwards, and of the almost complete darkness in which
the people are enveloped, both in East and West, before
the beginning of that age. Equally dark to our gaze
is the state of Borne and the Boman world, as the
monkish annals profess to represent it before the twelfth
century. If we conceive the Italian league of the

32S

THE EISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

eleventh century to have prepared the way for the
Catholic Church, if the fighting Popes are merely
metaphors for militant heads of such a league, still it is
not to be confounded with the Catholic Church, whose
writers distinctly admit the priority of the literature
and religious beliefs of the Hebrews. In a word, the
generation that witnessed the conquests of the Normans
in Italy and England witnessed the rise of the syna-
gogues, with all that fierce anti-Semitic feeling which
the kinsmen of the Hagarenes aroused ; they witnessed
the revenge of the Crusade, and they witnessed the
rise of the Catholic Church.

It would be interesting could we certainly detect
references in the canonical Hebrew literature to the
conquests of the Turks and Normans. The difficulty
is that the Eabbins habitually employ symbolical
language, of a vague description, the key to which
cannot perhaps be wholly recovered, and that they
scruple not to write their oracles under the names of
mythic ideals of the great foretime. Thus Nathan of
Borne, who is probably ante-dated into the tenth century
of our era, makes the prophet Elijah preach and exhort
as if he were yet living. He aUudes to Gog and Magog,
whose “judgment has already come upon the people.”
The Hungarians or Turks are supposed to be meant,
but this is not certain, any more than the same reference
is certain in the descriptions of the Biblical Ezekiel.
In Spain, according to Ford, the Moors meant by Gog
and Magog the Normans of the ninth century.

The same Nathan, when he speaks of “ Babylon,” is
said to allude to the city of Borne. We touch on these
points ^ because we desire to insist upon a principle of
criticism, namely, that from dreary and aoristic books

1 Bapoport, Biogr, d. Natan Eondj n. 43 (from Graetz.)

THE EISE OF HEBEEW LITEEATUEE. 329

like those of the Kabbins exact dates are not to be ex-
tracted. The approximate dates should first be dis-
covered at which the writers flourished ; we may then
ascertain what is the significance of their symbolic
allusions.

It may be hard to dispossess the mind of long-
inherited ideas about the city of “ Jerusalem.” , , .

Jerusalemin

Yet the evidence plainly teaches that no such Poetry and
city ought to appear on any historical map
until the twelfth century and the time of the Latin
kingdom. It is not till the middle of that century that
we hear of Eabbins like Jehuda Halevy, their minds
sharing the contagion of the times, pilgriming to Syria,
only to meet with disappointment. The city was still
the holy place of the Moslems, and the Jewish Theocracy
of God and David had stiU to be discovered in the
“heart of the earth.” Jewish mediaeval records tell
how, about 1 2 1 1 , 300 Eabbins from France and Eng-
land made the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. There
may have been a settlement of Jews at Tiberias so
early as the first Crusade, but elsewhere they appear to
have had no strength . E. Nachmanides much later finds
but a mere knot of his people, for whom he is trying
to obtain a synagogue in the ruins near the city. The
condition of the Jews in the caliphate of Bagdad
and at Jerusalem during the twelfth century has been
touched by the light ironical pen of Benjamin Disraeli,
himself a descendant of the Spanish or African stock.
He appears to have perfectly understood the genius of
the Eabbins, and how little historic worth there was in
the dreams of past Davidic glories and of the existence
of their “ Tombs of the Kings.” ^

1 This imaginative people/’ he calls them. A cmious example of their
literary habits is their ascription of the booh Sohar, probably written in the

330

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

On the whole, therefore, the evidence appears to
force us to the conclusion that the first period of
Hebrew literature falls between 1000-1200 of our era,
and that its contents began to be communicated by lax
or apostate members of the Synagogue to the Basilians
and Benedictines of Italy, who were densely ignorant
of the Hebrew language themselves, as the writings
ascribed to “Philo,” “Josephus,” and “Origen” bear
witness, from the time of the foundation of the cloisters
in Sicily and Calabria, under the Normans.

But every part of the evidence relating to the first
Crusade needs to be received with the greatest caution.
I have shown elsewhere that the monkish chroniclers
wrote at a great interval after that event, of which they
desire to represent their Order as the prime movers.
If this be not the fact, then those references of the
Eabbins of the sixteenth century to the Christian
Messiah and the Baptism, and again to the offices of St.
Bernard, which they have derived from the monastic
Chronicles, cannot be received. In fact, the evidence
as a whole shows that the Crusade was originally an
anti-Semitic rather than a theological movement, a
popular rather than an ecclesiastical war, and that the
members of the synagogues were not yet the victims of
the hatred of the monks.

It is entirely vain to seek for definite geographical,
and therefore historical, information from the mediaeval
Eabbins. It seems that about the end of the twelfth
century they were beginning to grope after sites of
ancient greatness of which they had long been patrioti-

thirteenth oentairy, to a pupE of E. AMba, who is placed in Hadrian’s
reign. The book Jem-ah, perhaps of the elerenth century, is put down to
Abraham or to E. Akiba. All that the elder Hisraeli wrote in the Gbtivus
of Judaimia well worth comparing with the Alroy of his son.

THE KISE OF HEBREW LITERATURE.

33 1

cally dreaming. It may be that by the siege of Ariel
or of Jerusalem they mean the siege of the Holy Place
in Syria, but it is not certain. The evidence that ec-
clesiastical geography has been largely derived from
poetry lies in the mediaeval geographies and maps of
the Benedictines. And it will save the student great
waste of labour if he will attentively study these docu-
ments of ignorance.

In the map, e,g.^ ascribed to a prebendary of Hereford
at the end of the thirteenth or the beginning of the
fourteenth century, which stands in the King’s Library,
the earth is made a circle, in the centre of which stands
Jerusalem, because the monk has found the city so
described in Ezekiel. The childish ignorance shown
in the details and the monstrous fancies would not
be contemptible if they were not associated with dis-
honesty. The important Christian centres seem to
be the Temple of St, James in Galicia and the seat of
St. Augustine at Hippo. Another map in the Cotton
Library, erroneously assigned to the tenth century,
shows that the monk who contrived it knew next to
nothing of Europe, thought of Arabia as a small strip
of land in the farthest East, while the Jews were a
great territorial power occupying with their tribes a
vast tract on both sides of the Jordan, from Cilicia on
the north to Egypt on the south. Maps of the four-
teenth century and later reveal how slowly men were
emerging out of fairyland and beginning to discover the
world as it is.

CHAPTER IX.

THE SYSTEM OF CHURCH LITERATURE.

The earliest Church literature is a Grgecb-Latin or
Latiu-Greek literature, and it is founded, by means of
an artificial connection, upon the Law and the Prophets
of the Synagogue, and upon the Oral Tradition of the
Rabbins. The problem is to ascertain when and where,
and by whom, this literature was constructed.

It has been shown that the Hebrew literature from
the eleventh and the twelfth century is not a revival,
but a beginning. The problem is, therefore — When
did the revival of Greek and Latin by the monastic
orders begin? What data are there, independent of
the monkish fictions, by which that epoch may be
determined ?

With regard to the Hebrew literature : the Law and
the Prophets substantially as we now possess them
probably began to be well known in the synagogues
about the middle of the twelfth century, when the
Rabbins were dispersed from Spain, eastward with
Maimonides, to the north with other emigrants, who
became strong especially in Southern Erance.

No sooner was the canon of the Synagogue laid
down than the exposition of the Scriptures begins :
allegorically, Eli is succeeded by Samuel, or the second
Moses takes the place of the first. The stream of oral

teaching flows probably from the lips of Doctors who

333

THE SYSTEM OF CHURCH LITERATURE.

333

are inspired with the same ideas and sentiments with
those of the canonical psalmists and prophets. The
Guide of the Perplexed and the short Mishna or Com-
mentary on the Law, which have been ascribed to the
son of Maimun, mark this epoch. The only difficulty
is the chronological one ; for the exact dates of Mai-
monides’ birth and death are unknown. "VYe have also
to take into account the fact that after his death his
authority was still a subject of dispute, and that it is
doubtful whether he was not outwardly a Mohammedan
to the end of his days. Using the data, therefore, with
the utmost caution, it appears that at some time during
the thirteenth century the Rabbins of the West, in
reflecting on the history of the synagogues, learned to
revere the memory of the Rabbin of Cairo as if he had
been a new Plato or Pythagoras.

Let us say, then, that the great Mishnic period
extends, in round numbers, over the century
1 1 50-1 250. It is the period of the Scribes
and Pharisees. It is the period of the Princes and
of the Sanhedrin. It is the period of the union of
Shem and Japheth, when the Masters of the Law
began to enlarge their intellect by the study of Greek,
when Aristotle was called in to aid in cultivating the
vineyards of the Lord. In modem phraseology, it is
the period of the Jewish High Schools, the very name
of which was probably borrowed from the Greek. There
is something entertaining in Rabbinical grandiloquence.
These kings and priests, these sages and great ones of
Cordova and Toledo, are revealed, on a steady applica-
tion of the historic telescope, as humble tradesmen,
— “ tent-makers, sandal-makers, weavers, carpenters,
tanners, bakers, or cooks.” We begin to understand
from what sources the ideal of the Rabbinical St. Paul

334

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

has been derived. Apart from their tendency to dream
and mythopceia, they are healthy and admirable men,
full of sagacity and morality, as aU their proverbial
wisdom shows ; in fact, the John Bunyans of their
time.

Emanuel Deutsch, in the Quarterly Review of October
1867, pointed out that the period of Mishnic develop-
ment is the period in which Christianity arose. He
further pointed out once more the striking parallels
of dogma and parable, of allegory and proverb, between
the Gospel and the Talmud. He showed that the
Pharisees were the very pith of Eabbindom, and that
their hypocritical counterfeits were even more bitterly
denounced in the Talmud than in the Gospel. But,
unfortunately, Deutsch did not rescue the subject from
its anachronistic confusion. He did not perceive, for
example, that the story of Hillel is an allegory of
Spanish Eabbindom, as Jerusalem is a poetic name for
the Schools. His statement that the period of the
Mishna coincides with the rise of Christianity means
that the time of the historical teachers of the syna-
gogues coincides with the time of the uprise of Bene-
dictines, Dominicans, and Franciscans.

To turn our attention now to Greek literature. The
age during which we Tcnow that it was being revived
in Italy is that of Petrarch and his friend Barlaam,
the Calabrian bishop — in other words, during the four-
teenth century. How long before that age did Greek
literature begin to flourish in the quiet and reserve
of the cloisters ? The fact is, that before the fourteenth
century there were no libraries but the closets of the
Benedictine cloisters, and that in these there were to
be found, so far as we know, in the middle of the
thirteenth century and later, little or nothing but

THE SYSTEIil OF CHUECH LITEEATUEE

335

Bibles, Service-books, Eituals, Gospels, and Epistles.
Greek literature was not revived at Constantinople or
any city of the East during that age, as the facts col-
lected by the Benedictine fathers, Mabillon and Mont-
faucon, decisively prove. It began in Italy, and spread
through France and the West by the agency of the
Benedictines.

The facts are similar in reference to the Latin litera-
ture. The name of Petrarch is again a landmark for
its flourishing time. But in reference to Petrarch him-
self we have to ask, What became of the costly library
which he is said to have bequeathed to Venice (1374) 1
How much did he know of the Divme Comedy or of the
Fathers and Doctors of the Church named in the poem ?
Again, Petrarch was a great lover of the Latin classics.
What measure does his Latin afford of the attainment
of his time or of the dark ages which had gone before ?
To ask such questions fairly is at once to admit how
great a difficulty the advocates of the genuineness of
Church literature labour under when they would main-
tain that in the eleventh and the twelfth centuries a
considerable mass of excellent Latin writing had been
produced. The great mediaeval handbook of theo-
logy was the Sentences of Peter Lombard, who is said
to have been Bishop of Paris in the latter half of the
twelfth century. And yet so late as the year 1279, in
a catalogue of books bequeathed to the Church of
Paris by the Bishop Tempier, there is no mention of
the Master of Sentences or of any other Father or
Doctor. It could not have been until late in that age,
or at the beginning of the next, that such a book could
have been known and used in the schools. He is
first named among ecclesiastical writers by Henry of
Ghent 1290.

336

THE RISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

In the light of these indications, we cannot assume
that the primitive Orders could have begun their litera-
ture, or even could have been formed, until some time
in the latter half of the twelfth century. And it is
with great difficulty that we can collect what was
occuning in any part of Italy or of the West during
that important age, 1150- 12 50. All that we can do is
to follow the Chronicles, and rejecting from them what
is prodigious, receive what is not in itself improbable,
because it coincides with evidence from other sources.

Let us keep our gaze steadily fixed upon Tusculum,
which during that age was the seat of a

Tuscnlum. ° °

to do with the formation of the Catholic Church.
There was still, probably, a numerous body of Moham-
medans in the neighbourhood. The name Saracinesco
reminds of the fact. Southern Italy abounded with
Mohammedans, Jews, and other Orientals. The feel-
ing of resentment against their domination had long
been growing, and was now perhaps at its height. The
only way in which they could be overcome was by the
organisation of a corporation in imitation of their own,
and which united secular and spiritual authority in the
hands of the same persons.

The infancy of the Catholic Church is the infancy
of the primitive Orders, or, to speak more accurately,
of the one primitive Order of Greek and Latin monks,
which in the fourteenth century split asunder into the
two Orders of St. Basil and St. Benedict. According
to the general tenor of their traditions, the Basihans
were the teachers of the Benedictines, their patrons.
But the origins have been enveloped in a haze of mytho-
logy. That Basil and the two Gregories flourished
in Cappadocia during the fourth century is a myth

powerful family of nobles who had much

THE SYSTEM OF CHUECH LITEEATHEE.

337

which was rendered plausible by the fact or the belief
that Greek letters had flourished in that land during
Roman times. No one in the West was likely to con-
tradict the story. But the fact is, that the Greek monks
went out from Italy to the East, and the myth of their
coming to Italy from Cappadocia is a case of “reversed
or double wandering.” Equally mythical is the tale
of St. Benedict in the sixth century. This part of the
tradition is flimsy enough, and may be dismissed with-
out further examination. Apart from other reasons,
when we come to the year ten hundred, we are still
in the mythological atmosphere.

Yet the legend of St. Nilus contains some important
facts, in an anachronistic form. He is said Legend of
to have been bom at Eossano in Calabria,
which was an important centre of Greek Monachism
in the fourteenth century and later. He is said to
have known Jewish scholars of Otranto ; but the fact
is, that a Greek abbot could not have known the work
of Domnolo or any other Jewish scholar on the Creation
until some time in the twelfth century. Then, but not
till then, a Rabbin might talk of the Word of the Lord
going forth from Bari and His Law from Otranto ;
then there may have been a Jerusalem in those towns.
The rise of the legend of St. Nilus may therefore be
traced to that or the following age, and it serves to
connect together the haunts of Greek Monachism in
Calabria and Apulia with the famous cloister of Grotta
Ferrata at Tusculum.

Coming now to about the year 1163, the tradition
runs that the cloister was then in existence, but that
the monks abandoned it in consequence of the civil
war which broke out between Rome and Tusculum ;
that they fled to Subiaco, and remained under the

, 1:8 THE RISE OF CHEISTEITOOH.

o o

roof of the Benedictines for near thirty years. The
tale of the flight may be regarded as a conventional
fiction; but the sojourn of Greeks and Latins under
one roof for a long period at the beginning of the
activity may be regai’ded as a certain fact, and one
that explains the rise of Church literature. The
history of Subiaco itself has never been critically
written, but the Art of the Sagro Speco points to the
thirteenth century, and it may with caution be assumed
that the cloister dates from the preceding age. In
memory of the hospitality of the Benedictines, it is
said that the Basilians presented them with the
Capuccio of St. Basil himself.

About the year 1191 Tusculum is said to have been
destroyed, and the name Frascati came into use. The
Monastery of Grotta Ferrata has been imagined to rest
on the site of Cicero’s villa. From this time it is said
to have been under the powerful protection of the
Counts of Tusculum, and to have acquired great
territorial possessions. The Greek monks were also
influential in the early times of Monte Cassino, as the
legend of St. Nilus and other particulars clearly show.
In short, the critical history of the early Catholic
Church is the critical history of the three cloisters.

It is said that Innocent III. resided at Tusculum,

itmo ent lu Connected with the Counts.

’ Materials for the writing of a critical bio-
graphy of this Pontiff do not, however, exist, and we
must content ourselves with the bare indication that the
headship of the Chnrch as a secular organisation was
in the family of the Counts, According to one story,
Innocent was Count of Segni, and his birthplace was
Anagni. On the other hand, he has been described as
a man of the lowest plebeian extraction. But the facts

THE SYSTEM OE CHTJECH LITERATUEE.

339

about Anagni in connection -with Boniface Till, and
the year 1303, when he is said to have been imprisoned
by the French in concert with a Oolonna, have pro-
bably cast their reflection on the earlier time. Signifi-
cant, also, is the statement that Innocent studied at
Paris, and that he wrote many volumes. We are at
least not very far from the time when there was a
theological school at Pai'is.

The tradition that Innocent wrote on the oflice of
the Mass and on Baptism cannot be accepted as
equivalent to fact. But the statement that the risible
head of the Church died at Perugia in 1214, on his
way to reconcile the Genoese and Pisans, is one of
many indications that the Church was at the time
more a political military league than a religious institu-
tion. What had the Greek and Latin monks been doing
during this half-century that lay between their junction
at Subiaco and the death of Innocent ? Let us assume
that they had laid the foundations of their system, that
they had agreed upon their Kerugma or Preaching,
and that they had sent forth their missionary bands
into the West. The assumption must still be cautious
and provisional.

They formed part of the great league of nobles and
priests, the League of the Cross. Their mission was to
proclaim the virtues of that sign, of the “Victorious
Tree, protection of the true,” and to denounce destruc-
tion against Mahometry and Jewry. The helmet was
often exchanged for the cowl, but the cowl as frequently
for the helmet. Wherever the Benedictines came in
their early campaigns, there must have been sceness^f
violence and bloodshed ; and their martyrs must have
been, in opposition to those of the Muslim under the
Crescent, men who fell in defence of the Cross, and

34 °

THE EISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

all the traditions of the West with which it was
associated. Little could have been heard at this time,
as we suppose, of the dogma of the Crucifixion. Nor
is it possible to represent too strongly the dense
ignorance that must have prevailed in the whole rank
and file of the militant monks. They called them-
selves slaves of God, and in effect they were servile of
origin, and servile in the terrible discipline to which
they were subjected. But the organisation which the
Lord Abbots controlled was more perfect, and more
adapted to conquest than any the world had known
since the Koman legion or the hosts of the Commander
of the Faithful.

But to return to Tusculum. In the time of Gregory
IX., who is said to have been of Anagni and of Inno-
cent’s house, we begin to emerge into the light. It
may perhaps be believed that during his session, 1225-
1240, a picture ascribed to St. Luke was carried to
Grotta Ferrata, in consequence, they say, of a revelation
from the Blessed Virgin herself. It may be believed
that this Pontiff gave his name to the Chants and other
parts of the Church service, which must have been
undergoing great development during this period. It
may also be believed that with the Franciscans and the
Dominicans and the Hermits afresh wave of enthusiasm
roUed over the world, and that the mystery of the Cruci-
fixion began to lie unfolded to the popular mind. Yet
the tumultuous Eomans have not been overcome, and
the Apostolic College has found a determined foe in
the Emperor Frederic. Gregory himself is said to have
died of grief. And certainly when, by the aid of the
Chronicles, we endeavour to form an idea of the situation
of the Church, it seems to have been well-nigh desperate.
Yet organisation prevailed, in spite of the captivity of

THE SYSTEM OF CHURCH LITERATURE.

341

the Cardinals and a vacancy of twenty-one months in
the Apostolic See.

It is perfectly certain that during this time the monks
could not have been writing much Church history or
dogmatic theology. Not until calmer days supervened,
and the mere struggle for existence had come to an
end, was there either motive or possibility for the con-
struction of an ambitious literary system. The most
significant thing in this relation is the tradition that
Nicolas IV. (1276-1282), of the Ursini family, a Fran-
ciscan, and formerly named Jerome, was a peaceful and
learned man who wrote many tractates on the Old and
New Testament, and who favoured learned Cardinals.
Certainly it cannot have been much earlier that the
New Law or Testament could have been compiled ;
and there are strong links of connection between the
Mendicants and the teaching of the book. The good
Nicolas is supposed to have come to a premature end,
in sorrow, after enduring the rivalry of an ignorant
Saint, Celestine, who in turn is deposed by the violent
Boniface. The latter “ came in like a fox, lived like a
lion, and died like a dog ” (1291-1300).

The coins inscribed with the name of this Pontiff
may possibly be genuine, but scant indeed are any
authentic monuments of this age. Not a portrait of
any thirteenth century Pope, for example, has come
down to us. We may seek wistfully, but vainly, in the
original Holy Land of the Campagna for sepulchres of
the founders. Aquino is associated with the name of
the Angelic Doctor, but neither there nor at Monte
Cassino, which claims him as a pupil, can authentic
memorials of St. Thomas be found.

The age was one of organisation, of aggression, of
fortification. It was an age of extravagant oral fiction.

342

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

whicli rooted itself at the shrines of saints, and in the
recurrent festivals in their honour. One of the most
interesting events in this relation was the establishment
of the shrine of St. James of Compostella in the very
land of the infidels, a rival to Cordova, the Mecca of
Spain. Possibly the militant Order may date from
late in the preceding century. Until the establish-
ment of the Knights of St. John in Ehodes early in the
nest century we cannot think of much Christian pro-
gress in the East. There can be no doubt that, from
the Moslem point of view, the Nazaraeans were a sect
of the West, and of the West alone.

Let us suppose that in the latter part of the thirteenth
century the need was felt of a fised literary Tradition,
so to be called, and that the monks of St. Basil, with
their Latin patrons, were the pioneers of the revival of
Greek letters. Any clearer knowledge of what was
done from that time must depend on the study of the
Catalogues of Chm'ch writers which were produced from
the Western monasteries from about a century before
the invention of printing. These Catalogues show, be-
yond doubt, that Church history, so called, was first
schemed and then written. It was deduced from a
theological and ecclesiastical theory, viz., that the In-
carnation of the Word had occurred at the beginning
of the Roman Empire, and that a series of historical
witnesses could be adduced in support of Christianity
from the times of the Apostles down to the dark times
in which the Church was in reality founded. It is im-
possible to deny on the evidence that until the thirteenth
century the very names of these writers had not been
heard of in the wide world, and that not until the
following age was there a reading pubhc of any ex-
tent ready to receive the writings ascribed to them.

THE SYSTEM OE CHUECH LITERATUEE.

343

In the study of the following Catalogues the student
will find the whole system of Church literature laid bare.

Apparently the first Basilian Catalogue is the so-called
Library of Photius, dated S92. Photius is Greek cata-
an imaginary patriarch, and the date of the
Catalogue is false. It contains 280 names, and is
nothing but a scheme of Greek theological literature
partly compiled, partly in course of compilation, in the
monasteries of the West. The contents prove that the
Christian theory of the past is still in its inception.
The MSS. are Cardinal Bessarion’s of Venice, and those
of Paris. Cardinal Bessarion became commendatory
abbot of Grotta Ferrata about 1469, and probably
enough the early history of this compilation may be
connected with that monastery. The safest way to
arrive at a probable conjecture of the date is by com-
parison with the Ecclesiastical History ascribed to
Nicephorus CaUistus, with which it often corresponds.
The latter work has never been dated before the early
fourteenth century. The Library of Photius cannot
have been consttucted long before.

It offers at first sight a formidable mass of learning
to the reader, but proves, on examination, to be of very
shallow content. It will be only necessary briefly to
indicate its character.

This Catalogue first names Josephus and Philo, whose
works are entirely the fabrication of the Greek josephns
monks, with the aid, very probably, of some
Jewish apostate, such as the author of the corre-
sponding work of Josippon. Again, the intention of
the forger is apparent in introducing the name of
Justus of Tiberias. He must have known of ^ ^
the Eahhinical school at that place, and he
pretends that this Justus wrote a history from Moses to

344

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

the third year of Trajan. Then he goes on to say that
this -nriter, being a Jew and labouring under Jewish
disease, makes no mention of the advent of Christ, His
deeds or miracles. There can be no stronger evidence
that the Basilian monk is well aware that the J ews had
no knowledge whatever of an advent of God to Syria in
human form, and that he is one of a conspiracy who
are resolved upon forcing that theory upon the world.

Nor had the existence of Essenes or Therapeutse
ever been revealed to the consciousness of the world
outside the cloisters. It is needless to refer to the
passages relating to Christ and to St. James in Josephus.
Let us hasten from the distasteful subject with the
remark that Jewish critical scholars should long ago
have detected the false origin of these writers, who have
been so long used as instruments of injustice against
the race. Another curiosity in this monastic Lihrary
is the so-called Book of the Christians, or Exposition
of the Octateuch, falsely ascribed to the reign of the
Emperor Justin. It is said that the writer of the
book makes mention in passing of Genesis and of
Exodus. He dwells in his narrative and theory on the
Tabernacle. He runs through the Prophets, and thence
the Apostles. He says that the sun has the magnitude
of two climates; that angels are not in heaven, but
only above (or under) the firmament and with us ; that
Christ, ascending from the earth, entered the inter-
mediate region between heaven and the firmament,
and that this is alone the kingdom of heaven. He
states other absurdities.^

By such a notice as this the monk contrives to
represent that some crude form of Christianity was in
existence during the reign of Justin, and to call atten-

^ Cod. 36. There are similar things in “Basil” and “ Ambrose.”

THE SYSTEM OE CHUECH LITEEATUEE.

345

tion to a theory which he intends to adopt in some
amended form. In another article he calls attention
to “Anonymous testimonies of Christ from Anonymous
Gentiles,” ^ which he does not produce. He Testunonies,
himself has no articles on Jesus Christ, Peter, Paul,
or any New Testament writer. He mentions “ Justin
Martyr’s ” Apology, the sophistries of which are nothing
but the productions of these false Basilian philosophers.
The Basilians, to do them justice, avow in their works
a literary morality which Justifies their enormous men-
dacities. Lies are useful, and truth may be suppressed
in the interests of the Church.®

We are in search of Church history. The first
Church historian is named by the Basilians E«seWns
Eusebius Pamphili, and he is planted in the
time of Constantine the Great. The information
about him is given in a halting and confused manner,
and is distributed under different numbers in different
parts of the Catalogue.® To him is ascribed the
Evangelical Preparation, the Evangelical Demonstra-
tion, the Confutation and Apology, the Ecclesiastical
History, and the Life of Constantine ; also the Brief
Confutation of Hierocles on Apollonius of Tyana.
The compiler of the Catalogue denounces this Eusebius
as a blasphemer, because he calls the Son the Second
Cause, and the General-in-Chief of the hosts of heaven.
There are other signs of “ Arian madness ” in him.

A significant name in the Catalogue is that of the
monk St. Nilus, a mystic prototype of the gt. NUua.
Abbot of Grotta Ferrata. We may dismiss
the work with the remark that the student who subjects

1 Cod, 170.

2 Eus,, H. E. viii. 2. Cf. P. E. xii. 5, on education hj fables.

Cod. 9, 13, 27, 39 , iiS, 127.

346

THE EISE OF CHEISTEHDOil

it to a thorough examination Tvill discover the ground-
plan, so to say, of the Church literary structure, and
all his studies will thenceforward be simphfied.

We pass on to the second Catalogue, which is con-
Cataiogueii. tained in the Lexicon of Suidas. We have
Suidas. none but internal indications as to the date
of this Lexicon, Scholars have assigned it, from
such evidence, to the period 900-- 1300. We will
assume it to have acquired its present form not earlier
than the end of that period. It consists of a series of
notices on ancient authors and subjects, with which
has been incorporated a number of Church notices,
by a monk of the Order of St. Basil. These notices
abound in curiosities, nay, in revelations of the most
startling kind when the student first comes upon
them. The Old Testament books appear to be quite
novel and imperfectly known ; so also the New
Testament books. Moreover, the New Testament
narrative is not followed in the accounts given of
the rise of Christianity.

The interpolator is strong in theology, but in place
FaUesiu of history he offers nothing but the most
Suidas. audacious conflated myths. There is nothing
to be met with in all ecclesiastical literature more
circumstantial than the tale under the title “ Jesus
the Christ and our God.” It is here related with
prolixity how, in the time of the Emperor Justinian,
one Philip, a silversmith, persuaded one Theodosius,
chief of the Jews, that Jesus had been enrolled in the
Jewish priesthood. The Jew is made to say that he
is convinced of the truth of this, but dare not avow it
for fear of his people. Another long circumstantial
tale relates how Dionysius the Are opagite, from Athens,
witnessed the eclipse at the time of the Passion, in

THE SYSTEM OF CHUECH LITEEATHEE.

347

Egypt, and felt assured that some momentous event
had taken place. There are no articles on Peter or
Paul, but under another title a very rhetorical descrip-
tion is given of the career of the latter apostle. Under
the articles “ Apostle ” and “ Evangel ” other strange
things may be read. This Lexicon is undoubtedly a
source anterior to any plenary New Testament or
Service Book. From it may be collected an account
of the early forms of Christian legend and dogma very
different from that in the canonical sources.

Upon the work of Eusebius Pamphili are made
to depend a string of so-called historians — TheSyst-m
Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret — who proceed otHis-
with their theological inventions down to the
year 439 ; Evagrius advances to the year 593. Nice-
phorus Callistus, who is admitted to have written in the
fourteenth century, carries us to the year 610. A con-
tinuator goes on till 91 1. One of the constant devices
of the monks is to multiply writers by the system
of continuators, who are often betrayed by identity
of style to the writers whom they are supposed to
continue.

The reader may consult either the work of Eusebius
Pamphili, ascribed to the fourth century, or
that of Nicephorus, ascribed to the fourteenth,
for the theory of Church origin. It is sub-
stantially the same thing, except that the later mytho-
logist knows more than the earlier. Neither of them
derives his ideas from the New Testament ; but while
Eusebius appears to have little more than the bare
scheme of the books before him, Nicephorus appears
to have the complete text. The most important part
of these histories is the Introduction, which announces
the great Christological theory from which the history

348

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM. '

is to be deduced. It is a dogma of the Advent of
“ Christ our God.” It is substantially the theory of
the prologue to the fourth Gospel. The rest is sheer
fable, and that of the most impudent kind, designed in
order to make good the pretension of the Church to
have been founded by the Incarnation, at the beginning
of the Roman Empire. It is a monument of literary
disgrace, and the fact that ecclesiastics have gone on
editing such flimsy lies in the interests of the Church
cannot be reflected on veithout pain. Kestner, early
in this century, saw that Eusebius had practically no
historical sources, but Kestner did not push his dis-
coveries further. The list of bishops and priests is a
list and nothing more. The wonderful library of the
martyr Pamphilus at Caesarea in the third century is
a hbrary in Utopia; and when we have gazed long
enough at the great Origen, with his corps of girl
amanuenses busy constructing Church hterature, the
scene melts, and we find ourselves in the Scriptorium
of Grotta Eerrata or Monte Cassino.

It gives us a clear idea of the kind of audience before
whom this history was first recited when we
i^ead that the Emperor Philip about the year
Hutory.^^ 247 was Converted to Christianity, and when
a Latin monk says he cannot conceive why
he was converted unless that the thousandth year of
the City must be dedicated to Christ rather than to
idols.^ It is sufficient to study the prologues referred
to, in order to be convinced, beyond possibility of
doubt, that the Church theory of the connection with
the Roman Empire is a dogma, and nothing but a
dogma, a transcendental theory, represented and set
forth in the guise of fact.

^ Anon. Vales, xxxiii.

THE SYSTEM OF CHTJECH LITEEATUEE.

349

Equally clear is the dogma of Jesus Christ and the
explanation of the sources whence His tran- Do-nna
scendent ideal was derived. His name Jesus of Jesus’
is from the Hebrew Jeshua, and there is no
other account of its origin. His name Christus is from
the epithet of the Jewish high-priest, “the Anointed
One.” He is conceived as an Archangelic Being, as
the W ord of God ; and a variety of other epithets
are lavished upon Him expressive of His majesty. It
stands beyond all question fast in these sources that
the Divine Founder, the homo manifestus ex homine
virgine, deus occultus ex deo patre, with His Apos-
tolic College, is the creation of the Chmxh, as are all
of the sacerdotal series which link that College with
later times.

The Basilians, imitating the Arabians and Jews,
also produce Chronicles wherein the course of ^
the world is deduced from the Creation and the ot ohroui-
first man Adam. The Chronicle of Eusebius °
is brought down to Constantine, and is followed by that
of Syncellus to Diocletian, by that of Theophanes
the Isaurian to the year 813. Malelas fills up the
space between Adam and the year 566. Then comes
Theophanes, “ the father of many a lie,” in Gibbon’s
phrase, who continues to 81 1 ; Scylitza, whose Epitome
covers the period 811-1081, Leo the Grammarian,
George the Monk, follow. The Paschal Chronicle by
three hands begins with the Creation and ends with the
year 1042. Cedrenus ends his Compendium with the
year 1057 ; S. Metaphrastes carries his Chronicle to 963
and is continued to 1059. M. Glycas ends with the
year 1118, and C. Manasses is supposed to flourish
about 1150. But the evidence, both external and
internal, points steadily to the conclusion that these

35 °

THE RISE OF CHRISTEFDOH.

•writers were contemporaries and of the same cloister,
or system of cloisters.

The Chronicle of Zonaras begins with the Crea-
tion and finishes with the year iii8. Nicetas con-
tinues to 1203, Nicephorus Gregoras to i359> a-nd L.
Chalcondylas deals with the period 1297-1462. The
influence of Homer and Herodotus has been observed
in these later ■writers of the “ Nazaraeans.”

It is not probable that any of these chroniclers began
writing much before the year 1 300. There are impor-
tant particulars in Nicetas showing that Byzantium was
still in the thirteenth century an old Eoman city in
appearance. Gregoras is a good witness for the fact that
the Mohammedans were the critics of the Christians,
and, we must add, the unanswerable critics ; while
Chalcondylas shows the greatest respect for the Mo-
hammedans, and gives a close account of their belief
and their rites. He does not speak of Christians, but
of Nazaraeans and of the religion of Jesus, which
he knows to be in some way connected with Islam.
He confuses Isa with Jesus, saying that Mohammed
honoured Jesus as the Apostle of God.

Another series of biographic fictions links the interval
between the Emperor Justinian and the time of the
first Crusade by the names of Menander, Simocatta,
Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Leo Diaconus, Psellus,
and Anna Comnena. The Alexiad, 1069-1118, was
written in a cloister, as was the work of John Cinnamus,
1 1 18-1176. These works appear to date from after
the separation of the Greeks and Latins.

The period 1204-1261 is covered by George Acro-
polita, who is continued by G. Pachymeres to 1308.
The work ascribed to John VI. Cantacuzene, but ■written
by a monk, covers the period 1320-1357; that of M.

THE SYSTEM OF CHUECH LITEEATURE. 351

Ducas the period 1341-1462, and that of George
Phranzes the period 1261-1477. These later ■RTiters
still describe their objects in so vague and dreamy a
manner that it is doubtful whether they have not been
ante-dated. It seems part of the system of the monks
not to sit down to write their story until they are safe
from contradiction and criticism.

It is impossible to speak too strongly of the tedium
and the disgust which the reading of the so-called
Byzantine writers inspires. They are nearly all of them
infected by the monkish vices — unblushing mendacity,
boastfulness, delight in images of violence and ob-
scenity, hatred of the wedded life, contempt of aU that
passes for virtue outside the cloister. As historic
sources they are all hut valueless, unless their method
be narrowly studied, and we draw the opposite inference
from their statements to that which they intend to
convey to the mind of the reader. Nothing is more
convincing of the fabulous character of their system
than the discovery of the ignorance of Chalcondylas
in his late time. The following are some of his
statements : —

John Cantacuzene is said to have been made a
Nazarsene under the name Matthew, and chaicondy-
Ehodes was the headquarters of the Naza-
rseans at the time. The Sarmatians or Eus- ^^aarsei.
sians are said to foUow the laws of Jesus under a
Greek Pontiff, rather than the Pontiff of the Eomans.
Sarmatia is said to extend toward the ocean as far
as Prussia, and to the white-robed Nazarsei and the
Sanctuary in this land. They seem to be Germans,
and they have a Sanctuary to be compared with that
in Ehodes and that in Spain. These three Sanctuaries
all know to have been founded for the religion of

3S2

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

Jesus against the Barbarians. Many at Prague, on
the other hand, have been till lately fire and sun wor-
shippers ; and they only, as far as the author knows,
are outside the two religions known to him, viz., that of
Jesus, and that of Mechmet and Moses. Is he referring
to the Jews 1 He speaks as if, in the prevailing dark-
ness, there were hut the two religions at all distinctly
known.

He speaks of Calabria as formerly called Hellas, and
he has heard a strange tale of the prophetic powers
of Joachim. He speaks of him as doorkeeper in a
monastery of the Nazarseans in Italy. In the same
connection he has a lively passage on the mode of
election of the High-priest or Pontiff of the Komans,
and bears witness to the immense influence of the
Colonna and Ursini families in the Cardinalate. He
repeats the strange tale of the female Pope and the
ceremony at the election connected with the belief.
He shows how the Italian princes are interested in the
Pope, If there are two sons in a family, one receives
civil and the other ecclesiastical preferment. Ambition
makes the High-priest an object of great affection and
honour in the families of the nobles.

He knows the monastery of St, Phocas in Asia
Minor called* Cordyla. He knows of Monothelites
and Jacobites in Egypt, who are “great nations.” He
thinks of them vaguely as belonging to the religion of
Jesus the God, but adds that they hold neither the
Greek nor the Eoman dogma. There are also a large
number of Manichaeans. He calls the Caliph king of
Memphis, who is High-priest of the Mohammedans
in Asia, Libya, and Europe. It is they who have
custody of the Sepulchre of Jesus in Palestine, from
which they derive great gain. Palestine extends from

THE SYSTEM OF CHURCH LITERATURE.

353

Alexandria to Coele-Syria, and here, at rained Jerusalem,
is the Tomb of Jesus.

In his intelligent account of the rise of Mohammed
and the customs of the Turks, he says that
the followers of Islam believe Jesus to he an
Apostle of God, and that Jesus sprang from an angel
Gabriel and from Maiy, who was a virgin. Jesus was
a superhuman Hero, and He will come at the end to
judge the world. He describes the pilgrimage to
Mecca to the Tomb of the Prophet, in which Europe
still takes part. It is manifest that Chalcondylas, a
man of rank under the Duke of Athens in the fifteenth
century, is neither Mohammedan nor Christian, and
that he is unable to distinguish critically between the
two systems. He does not know the bare name of
Christian. Pie thinks of the military monks as Na-
zarsens of Ehodes, and fails to recognise their presence
in Greece. And so vague is his knowledge of Koman
history, he says that, after Alexander the Great, the
Eomans by fortune and valour came to great power.
They handed over Eome to the supreme Pontiff, crossed
into Thrace under the Emperor, and made Byzantium
their metropolis ; Emperors of the Eomans the rulers
of Byzantium still called themselves. But the people
of Eome and the Pontiff quarrelled with the Greeks
and set up a Gallic or German Emperor of the Eomans.
Eeligious dissension led to the expedition of the
Westerns against Byzantium. The Greek seat of em-
pire was removed to Nicaea. Byzantium was recovered.
At last John, Emperor of the Greeks, took with him
the Pontiff of the Greeks and went to Italy in order
to put an end to rehgious disputes, and gave aid against
the Tmks. He came to an agreement with the Eoman
Pontiff in_the Italian Synod; but on his return the

354

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

Greeks of Byzantium refused to abide by its terms, and
the discord became perpetual. This writer is thought
to have been living so late as 1490, yet to him the
wonderful story of the translation of empire is still
fresh and but vaguely known.

To resume on this part of the subject. It seems
that the Greek and Latin monks remained in union
from the latter part of the twelfth century during
nearly the whole of the following age. The seats of
literary activity were the Italian and French cloisters ;
and it was by their consent that the idea of a Holy
Catholic Church, “the beginnings of all things,” but
rooted temporally in the old Homan Empire, was fixed.
They had, perhaps by the end of the thirteenth century,
contrived a great consensus of opinion on the part of
imaginary Fathers in the East and West. They had
claimed Asia Minor and Syria under the names of
Justin, Eusebius, Basil, the Gregories, Chrysostom ;
Egypt under the names of Origen, Clement, Atha-
nasius, Cyril; Italy under the names of Ambrose,
Leo, Gregory; Africa under the names of TertuUian,
Cyprian, Optatus, Augustine. They had planted Epi-
phanius in Cyprus. They had begun to do what they
often accuse imaginary sects of heretics of doing. By
the time the printing-press came into operation, they
had written “ a great number of spurious books, under
false tides, with the view of terrifying fools” Indeed,
the shameless audacity with which they presumed on
their power, or on the ignorance of the public, is
apparent through the whole of their writings.

They indulged well-known propensities of the human
mind. They argued that, if a theory of the world were
only proclaimed loudly and long enough by a great

Theodoret, Eaer. Fab. i. 19, cited liy flardouin, Prolegg. 31.

THE SYSTEM OF CHURCH LITERATURE.

355

chorus of consentient voices, if it could be shown that
it had been opposed by a multitude of sects in distant
times and places, all of which had been refuted and
overthrown, the world would at last be forced into
assent. But it is these very imaginary heretics who
condemn the authors of their being, because the
opinions ascribed to them are nothing but a strange
revelation of the absolute unbelief of the monks them-
selves in the stories they were forcing on the imagina-
tion of the world.

By that time they had rendered the Bible, or parts
of it, into Greek and Latin ; they had perverted it into
a repository of types and allegories in favour of their
theory; they had begun, in pursuance of the same
method, but they had probably not completed, the
A'postle and the Book of the Gospels. Probably they
had written the so-called apocryphal books of the Old
Testament, which are still held in high esteem by the
Catholic Church. They deliberately cast doubt upon
writings which they themselves produced, so that in
sheer bewilderment men’s minds might be thrown upon
the authority of the Church alone.

The events which led to the flight of the Popes to
Avignon, and to the schism between the Greeks and
Latins, produced a fresh effort of literary activity.
Under the flimsy pretext of a dispute concerning the
Procession of the Holy Ghost, the Greek monks dis-
guise their jealousy of their Latin colleagues. They
began the construction of a fresh theological and
liturgical literature. They wrote the series of monkish
tales which pass under the name of the Byzantine
History, with all its imaginary councils and heresies
and theological emperors ; while the Latins were contriv-
ing their corresponding tales of supreme Pontiffs in the

356

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

West. From the fabulous habit of ante-dating the dis-
pute into the ninth century, and again to the time of
the first Crusade, it is difficult to fix upon the exact
epoch when the two orders became irreconcileable.
It is not probable that the general pubhc ever heard
of two Cathohc Churches, and of an old rivalry between
Patriarchs and Popes, until the fifteenth century.

However, the important fact in reference to the pre-
sent investigation is, that long before their separation
the Greek and Latin monks had consented to that
theory of the Church which is laid down in the writings
ascribed to Eusebius Pamphili, and that these writings
cannot be dated far from the time when the centre of
the Christian w’orld was in the South of France.

The Latin Catalogues of Illustrious Men present
The Latin aualogous features to those of the Greeks.
L Jeromlde Greek influence is still observable in the
name Eusebius Hieronymus, commonly called
St. Jerome, who links his Catalogue with the
work of his namesake, Eusebius Pamphili. The
Catalogue is falsely dated in the fourteenth year of
Theodosius (392). The Greek version by Sophronius
links it to the productions of the Greek monks. It
contains 135 names, from Simon Peter to Jerome, and
has an impudent preface, in the worst manner of the
monk, in which he pretends to address an ex-Praefect
Dexter, alludes to a Catalogue in the Brutus of Cicero,
which he prays the Lord Jesus Christ that he may be
enabled to imitate ; he launches out against Celsus,
Porphyry, and Julian, as “ mad dogs against Christ,”
as if he were their contemporary; is petulantly con-
scious of a taunt that the Church had no philosophers
and doctors; and brandishes this list in the face of
his public as a triumphant proof to the contrary.

XtLJj: ISYSTEM OE CHUECH LITEEATUEE.

357

On examination, the Catalogue proves to he based
on those of Suidas and Photius. The notices in Suidas
are often translated word for word. But the significant
circumstance is that neither of those Greek Catalogues

, ^ o

give a single name of Latin ecclesiastical vTiters. These
illustrious of the Latin monasteries are, then, the
product of Benedictine imagination at some time not
before the thirteenth century. The plenary New Testa-
ment is still unrecognised, and fables are introduced
about Peter, James, John, and Paul, from other sources.
Peter went to Rome to conquer Simon Magus in the
second year of Claudius, and held the priestly cathedra
till the last year of Nero. He was crucified head
downwards. Of James, Bishop of Jerusalem, stories
are told similar to those in Eusebius Pamphili; also
a story of the appearance of the risen Lord to him,
with circumstantial details. Tor the first time we
learn that Paul had been called Saul ; Eusebius knows
nothing of this. We learn also for the first time that
he was of the tribe of Benjamin, and of the town
Giscalis in Judsea. Sentences are furnished from his
epistles with a view to make out his relation to Nero’s
time. In connection with the statements in Eusebius
Pamphili, it is clear that the scheme of the Pauline
epistles was first laid down, and that it was but gradually
filled in, a fact which accounts for the difficulty of
these writings.

But not to detain the reader with these particulars.
Once more we confirm our view of the origin of
Christendom in this source. There is no history in
our sense ; it is the great romance of the Church un-
veiled. Theology and christology inspire everything.
There is polemic against Mages, Manichees, Jews, and
other Unitarians. There is dogmatic writing on the In-

3S8

THE EISE OE CHRISTENDOM

carnation and the Trinity, the manifestoes of an Order,
the thoughts of a coi-poration, never of the indepen-
dent thinker. The whole object is to make out that
the system of the Church had been handed down from
the days of the first Bishop in Eome ; that at the end
of the fourth century she could count her scholars
by scores from Caesarea in Cappadocia to Barcelona
in Spain; that the East was linked with the West in
the person of Jerome, who is merely made to say of
himself that he was bom at Stridon, on the borders of
Pannonia and Dalmatia.

This reference affords no clue to the place and time
Gennadius’ of the Composition of the Catalogue. But a
Appendix further list is appended, nominally by Gen-
nadius, a priest of Marseilles, and falsely dated at the
end of the fifth century. It contains ninety-nine more
illustrious names, among which may be mentioned
Vincent, priest at the monastery on the isle of Larins
opposite Marseilles, also an ez-abbot of the same
cloister, and other writers at Marseilles and at Arles.
Now, it is absolutely certain that there were no Church
foundations at either of these places in the fifth centiuy,
and not probable that they existed there long before
the Popes came to Avignon.

Although, then, the names of aU the great fathers
and doctors of Church glitter on these Catalogues, they
prove, on examination, to be no more than names and
shadows which haunted the imagination of the French
cfeisters in the first periods of Church literary activity.
It ig, impossible to affix them to any known personality.
The reader may take any one, or all of these names,
and inaitire into the extraction, the date of birth and
death, the previous history of the writer. He is re-
ferred to' the writer’s own works. He finds some in-

THE SYSTEM OF CHUECH LITEEATTJEE.

359

coherent, rambling story, written as if in a dream. He
is dissatisfied. He asks for particulars from a con-
temporary. He meets with a member of the same
Order, or he consults Father Mabillon, who refers him
back to the writings of the doctor himself. No one
outside the cloisters was ever acquainted with these
personalities.

The facts to which we are referring account for that
pecTiliar immobility and rigidity in Church literature
which must often have struck the mind of the student
with an impression of the prodigious. The writers
ascribed to the fifth century have the same style, the
same thoughts, as those who are admitted to have written
in the fourteenth. There is no development, no pro-
gress. Phenomena offer themselves which are impos-
sibilities to those who have studied the nature of the
human mind. Even Benedictine rule could not defeat
nature. A monk of that Order will not write in the
present day precisely as a William of Malmesbury or
an Orderic wrote. The discrepancy of times will make
itself felt. It is the want of discrepancy between
such a writer as St. Bernard and such a writer as
Jerome or Augustine which betrays that they belonged
to the same age, and were produced in the same
forges.

The Basilian and Benedictine patrologic mythology
is laid bare in the contrivance of these lists, patroiogic
The great literary heroes of the Basilians are
St. Basil and the two Gregories, who it is pretended
were contemporaries of the Emperor Julian. The tale
of his apostasy is part of the same system of fiction.
The student may plant himself at Athens, and may
persuade himself, since there is no evidence to the
contrary, that the embers of old philosophy were kept

360

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

alive in that glorious city down to the end of the
eighth century. He may transplant himself to Caesarea
or Mazaca in Cappadocia, contemplate the ruins of a
mediaeval city, and allow the Basilian heroes to vanish
into their transcendent sphere. He may visit Cyprus,
and convince himself that the name of St. Epiphanius
was not heard of until the time of the Crusaders’ king-
dom in the East. He may make pilgrimage to the
Holy Mountain of Athos, find himself in Middle Age
scenes, at the heart of Middle Age religion, and in the
midst of ignorant monks exert undisturbed his critical
faculty in drawing a sharp line between the luxuriance
of fables about Constantine and Helena and the epoch
at which the Coenobites carried them thither, which
was probably early in the fourteenth century.

The Benedictines mythically link themselves to the

st Jerome persou of St. Jerome, who is

made to say that Gregory of Nazianzus was
his preceptor. But they give the name of no convent
as the scene of these instructions. In the rambling
and loosely dated hfe of Jerome, he is made to travel
from Aquileia to Eome, and from Kome to Bethlehem
and to Egypt. He settles at Bethlehem, is followed by
Eoman ladies, who found there a nunnery, and there
he dies. This again is a reflection of something that
was happening during the later Crusades. Again,
Eufinus of Aquileia is said to have been the great
translator of the works of the Greeks into Latin, as
well as to have been the great expounder of the symbol
and creed of the Apostles. The general fact is patent,
from the letters ascribed to Jerome, that correspondence
was actively kept up by means of the post and of
travelling monks between the cloisters of the West
and of the East.

THE SYSTEM OF CHUECH LITEEATUEE. 361

The Catalogue of Jerome and Gennadius must early
have been copied and passed round to the Western
monasteries. The Benedictines then proceeded to build
other Catalogues upon the same basis. These we now
proceed to notice.

To the ominous name of Isidore of Seville is attached a
Catalogue of Illustrious Men, which continues catalogue
that of Gennadius. It begins with the second
century, and the name of Xystus or Sixtus,

A.D. 1 29. It extends, with forty-seven names,
to the supposed time of Isidore himself in the seventh
century. Here for the first time it is discovered that
the famous preacher, John of Constantinople, bore the
surname of Chrysostom, or Golden Mouth.

Now, as for San Isidoro, he was not heard of in
Seville until there was a religious congrega- g j
tion settled there to honour him as tutelar,
to relate his miracles, and to write Church fiction under
the patronage of his name. The history of Seville
is one of the most decisive contradictions of the
monkish story that can be conceived. In the seventh
century it was old Eoman. Not a Moor, much less
a Jew, was there. It was a Moslem city jfrom the
eighth to the end of the twelfth century. It is Mos-
lem in appearance still. The giralda or belfry was
built about 1 196, by Abu Jusuf Yacub, for a mueddin.
There are arches of Norman Saracenic, which carry us
back in thought to Apulia and Sicily. The present
imposing cathedral, standing on the site of the mosque,
once more sends forth its voice of testimony to the
fact that the Church reposes on the foundation of Islam.
The Isidorian monks could not have been here till
about the time of St. Ferdinand. They may perhaps
have been at Leon, of which city San Isidoro is also

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

lord, as early as tlie twelfth century. But it is not
in the least probable that this Catalogue was compiled
before the latter part of that age. An important par-
ticular in confirmation of this is the fact that
discovered a the Compiler is the first to discover that the
Emperor Justinian was a Church author. To
logian. ascribes, not works of codification,

but a treatise on the incarnation of the Lord, which
he sent into diverse provinces ! ^

The next Catalogue is that of Hildefonso, Bishop
0 talc e Toledo, and prot 6 g 6 of Isidore. This

in :i^e- list also depends on that of Jerome and
m|ne, Gennadius. It stretches from Pope Gregory
XCT1.196. Archbishop Eugenius II., and contains

fourteen names.

At Toledo the cathedral is ascribed to St. Ferdinand,
Toledo about 1 226. It stands on the site of a mosque.

There are, of course, myths about the
descent of the Virgin, with St. Peter, St. Paul, and
St. James, to an earlier church. The Jewry, with its
synagogues of Moorish architecture, bears its silent
evidence to the religious history of the city. The Jews
were here probably later than the Moors. There is
no reason to identify them with the figurative “ Amale-
kites” whom the Moors found in the city. The
oldest synagogue does not probably carry us to a
higher point than the eleventh or twelfth century.
Toledo bears still a Moorish face, and the earliest
Christian buildings of this “Durham of a once
golden hierarchy,” the churches and convents, now
silent as tombs, fall in the period after Alonso VI.,
1085,- the Emperor of Toledo, and not long before St.
Ferdinand.

1 0. 18.

THE SYSTEM OF CHUECH LITEEATUEE. 363

The next Catalogue is that ascribed to Bom Sigebert
of Gemblours. He has 17 1 ecclesiastical writers —
beginning with Marcellinus, an ex-disciple
of Simon Magus, and then disciple of Simon if- si^bert.
Peter in Eome, who wrote an account of the
great conflict between the two Simons, which is essen-
tial to Christian legend. It is symbolic of the war
waged by the Church against all the Oriental sects
connected with the Moslems that preceded her rise,
and was earlier told in a manner markedly different
and less refined than in the canonical Acts of the
Apostles.

This compiler follows Jerome and Gennadius, and
supplies some gaps in their list from his own invention.
He too has the fable of the Basilians concerning
Dionysius the Areopagite, and how he witnessed the
eclipse at the time of the Passion at Heliopolis.^
Again he produces Justinian as an ecclesiastical writer,
and perhaps for the first time ascribes to him the
Codex, as well as the Institutions and the Digest. Here
we find the names of Bede and Alcuin and Einhard,
biographer of Charlemagne. The authority for Bede
is simply Bede’s own words, and nothing more. The
names are merely disguises of unknown monks of the
Order, contemporaries and collaborators of Sigebert
himself. His own name stands last; and the par-
ticulars given teach us nothing but what we knew
before, viz., that we are in the company of an imitator
of Eusebius, a confederate of the Basilian and Bene-
dictine authors and founders of the faith. The date
of his death is given as 1112, but in reality we know
not his exact epoch, which must depend on the probable
date of the foundation at Gemblours, and the rise of
1 C. 4. The myths sprang up at St Denis.

3^4

THE EISE OF CHEISTEFDOM.

the Paris Academy. E. de Monte is said to continue
Sigebert’s Chronicle to ii86.

The next Catalogue bears the name of Honorius of
Catalogue Y. Autun, supposed to have flourished c. 1 1 1 2 -
1 137 - The date joins to that of Sigebert.
cixxii. 197. j^gain we have to do with an obscure mem-
ber of the Order. He has four books, “ On the
Luminaries of the Church.” His first book is taken
from Jerome’s catalogue, his second from Gennadius’,
his third from Isidore, his fourth contains seventeen
names from various sources, Bede, Alcuin, Honorius,
and others of his contemporaries. He has an amus-
ing preface, in the thoroughly florid Benedictine
style.

The next Catalogue carries us back to the Benedictine
cataio e head-quartei's at Monte Cassino. It is a list
vL^^e of the illustrious of that ccenobium, and
of Monte depends on the lists of Jerome, Gennadius,
and Isidore. The first name is that of St.
Benedict, the forty-seventh and last is that of Peter,
the deacon and librarian, who is supposed to say that
in 1128, at the age of twenty-one, he went into exile.
The Chronicle of this monastery ascribed to Leo of
Ostia is brought down to 1115. There are strong
evidences of fraud in connection with the history of
the Chronicle.

A Supplement by Dom Placidus begins with Abbot
Eichard, c. 1256, names Abbot Bernard, 1272,

Supplement. ^ i ^

then goes on to Ignatius, who died in 1514,
and ends with Gregory, cardinal, who died in 1584.
How is the strange hiatus in the series to be accounted
for? Many of the names of the later abbots remind
of the Greek influence on the cloister ; among them
are Justin, Chrysostom, Jerome.

THE SYSTEM OE CHUKCH LITEEATUEE. 365

To Peter the Deacon is ascribed another hst of the
just men of the coenobium, wherein is catalogue
described how they lived and died, from St.

Benedict himself to a monk of the same name
under Desiderius, These are edifying fictions.

The anonymus of the monastery of Melk in Austria
(in later times a great literary centre), who is catalogue
supposed to be writing in 1215, depends also Migne,
on Gennadius. His list extends from Pope
Telesphorus, A. 128, down to Radpertus Magnus, who is
said to have begun writing in iiii, the date when
Sigebert ceases. There are 1 1 7 names.

Then we come to the “ Anonymus Zwetlensis,”
equally unknown, who produces a History of
the Roman Pontiflfs, from St. Peter down to ^ iiigne
Celestine III., a. 1191. And this book is
probably the first attempt that was made to construct a
complete list of the Popes before his epoch. The first
article contains a remarkable address of St. Peter to his
successor Clement, which throws Light on the passages
in the New Testament relating to the Prince of the
Apostles. Linus and Cletus were merely his coadjutors,
they had not the pontifical power of binding or loosing
which was solemuly conferred on Clement in the words
uttered by Peter before his passion. There are 179
names. The notice of Celestine III. is very shght,
consisting of the statement that he crowned Henry, son
of the Emperor Frederic, when he came to claim the
kingdom of Apulia.

To Ralph de Diceto, Dean of St. Paul’s, London,
according to tradition, early in the thirteenth catalogue x.
century, there has been ascribed the meagre
Imagines Historiarum, and the poor list of
illustrious men, among whom Pompeius Trogus is found.

366

THE EISE OE CHBISTEFDOK

But the industry of the present Bishop of Oxford has
not been rewarded by the discovery of the personality of
this ecclesiastic. Any Dean of St. Paul’s at that date
must, however, have stood in the bare dawn of Chris-
tianity, when Paul was but beginning to be heard of as
tutelar of the city of London. It may be observed that
the so-called ten writers of English history, of whom
De Diceto is one, who are supposed to sit down at the
end of the twelfth century, or during the next age, to
continue the History of Bede, represent the like system
of contrivance that we have detected in the chronicles
of the Order on the Continent. It is only when we
come to the reign of John that we begin to move
toward historic ground. But English history needs to
be re-written.

The next Catalogue is that ascribed to Henry of
Catalogue Ghent, playfully called “ the solemn doctor ”
of the Sorbonne. He continues the list of
ecclesiastical writers from Sigebert down to
the year 1280. But nothing is really known of the
personality of “ Henry of Ghent,” the Archdeacon of
Tournay. The beginnings of monastic life in the Low
Countries must have been but faint at that epoch.
This list contains sixty names. The first is that of
“Foulcher of Chartres,” to whom has been ascribed a
History of the First Crusade, 1095-1127. There is
not a word about this work, however, in “Henry
of Ghent,” and it is certain that not a line of it was
penned during the twelfth century.

The fifth name is that of Anselm, ex-Abbot of Bee,
and Archbishop of Canterbury : so that not earlier than
1 280 did men begin to speak of his Our Dem Homo,
which develops the incarnation from an d priori. The
ninth name is that of St. Bernard, founder of Clair-

THE SYSTEM OF CHURCH LITERATURE. 367

vaux; but the catalogist adopts the device which is
noticeable in the case of St. Augustine and others : he
pretends that the works of St. Bemai’d are so well
known, it would be an impertinence to give a list of
them ! A notice of Peter Abailard shows that the
fable of his relations with St. Bernard, illustrative of
orthodoxy and heresy, had been devised at the date
of this Catalogue. The author is connected with the
rising School of Paris. He names Hugo of St. Victor
as expositor of the Hierarchy of St. Denis and author
of a book of Sentences. It is this Hugo who was later
called the “ Tongue of St. Augustine,” because his matter
and manner so closely resembled those of the saint.
With good reason, since the works of St. Augustine
may have been begun in the Victorine ccenohium, late
in the thirteenth century. Eichard of St. Victor is
also extolled as a great genius, for his rationalist work
on the Trinity. Peter, Abbot of Cluny, wrote Epistles,
Visions, and Eevelations ; but not a word is said of his
translation of the Koran, either in the notice or in the
scholium which adds the title Venerable to his name.

Peter Lombard is named as President of the Theolo-
gical School of Paris and author of the “great and
arduous work,” the Sentences, which could not have
come into general use till the fourteenth century. In
1280 it has not yet been discovered that Peter had
died in the bishopric of Paris, 1159.

He is followed by Peter the Eater (Comestor or
Manducator) author of a School History, abbreviated
from the Testament. Pope Alexander III. is named,
followed by Innocent HI., but no dates or other parti-
culars of their personality are given.

The thirty-seventh name is that of J acobus de Vitreio,
Bishop of Acco in Syria. • He is said to have written

368

THE RISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

an Oriental History, relating to the time of the Crusades,
a -word not used by the catalogist. The same Jacobus
exposed the errors of the abandoned Mahomas, in
which the unhappy Arabs obstinately persevere to the
present day. This is perhaps the first Church allusion
to the Mohammedans, the first indication of the design
to garble the Koran, and represent Mohammed as the
disciple of Jews and Christians.

Our author names the great Dominican and Fran-
ciscan doctors, but in such a way as to show that the
bare ideas or eidola of them are merely present to his
mind. Thus Hugo, the first Dominican professor of
theology, Vincent, author of the Speculum, Albert of
Cologne, are produced ; but nothing is known of Hugo
de S. Caro, of Vincent of Beauvais, of Albert the
Great, These surnames are later discoveries, as are
most of the worts ascribed to the bearers of them.
Thomas, however, is known already as De Aquino, and
William, the invective opponent of the two orders of
friars, is known as St. Amor. But a very subtle opuscle
on this controversy is all that is set down to the credit
of Thomas, who is not yet discovered as Angelic
Doctor. The humour of “Henry of Ghent” is shown
when he says of Albert, that “while he too much
follows the subtilty of secular philosophy, he over-
clouds to a certain extent the splendour of theological
purity.”

Alexander of Hales is named, but the compiler has
not read any of his writings. Bonaventura, we are
told, was an Italian of the Order of Minores, and he
wrote an opuscle on the Sentences of his master Peter.
In hke manner Eemimd, the General Prior of the
Dominicans, is simply so called. He has not yet
culminated as St. Baymond Pennafort of Barcelona.

THE SYSTEM OF CHUECH LITEEATUEE. 369

But the design of ascribing a work of fictitious juris-
prudence to him is apparent. His name is followed
by that of Gratian, the Bologna monk, whose name is
equally an invention with the “Decrees” connected
with it.

An Appendix, of uncertain date, shows that, as usual
a later writer has more clearly discovered the
persons of Anselm, Abailard, Bernard, and
others. It contains eleven names.

If at this point of the investigation the reader turns
to the massive quartos in which Dom Mabillon has
collected the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St.
Benedict, from the founder himself to St. Bernard, he
wiU see that not a line of these Acts could have bf en
written down until late in the thirteenth century, find
that when they began to be written the materials were
solely drawn from ideal sources, analogous to those
from which the Church painters draw.

It may be convenient here to introduce the poet of
the Divine Comedy, whose mind is filled with
imagery drawn from the Greek and Latin
poets and from the new secular and ecclesias- ^
tical romances. The date of the poem is un-
certain ; but the references to Church matters are fairly
consistent with the tradition that the poet studied at
Bologna and perhaps at Paris. He has no very clear
historic perspective. He appears to confound, e.g.,
the time of Justinian with that of Charlemagne. The
Fathers, in his view, belong to an indistinct and unas-
certained past. Thomas d’Aquino is eminent in the
fourth heaven, and with him are Albert of Cologne,
Gratian, Peter, not named as Lombard, but as writer
of the opening lines of the Sentences: Solomon the sage
incongruously follows, to be succeeded by St. Denis,

37 °

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

as author of the Hierarchia, aud by the Advocate of
Christian Times, the teacher of Augustine — probably
Orosius. He thinks of the bones of Boetius laid at
Cieldauro in Pavia ; he passes on to Isidore and Bede,
with whom Eichard, the superhuman genius of St.
Yictor, is named in the same breath. Then we have
a picture of Sigieri, or Sigebert, reading in a street
Par., canto of PuHS. The poet’s praise is fulsome ; and
one wonders how much of the writings of
tl^ese musical-voiced doctors he had perused.

'jin the next canto St. Thomas discourses the praises
of\ St. Francis and his bride, the Evangelical Poverty.
Tl^e poet certainly imagines that before the coming of
Sti Francis the precepts of the Gospel had never been
obdyed since primitive times. He names some of his
foMowers. St. Francis and St. Dominic are the seraphic
ap.d cherubic doctors of the Church, her two chief
.Escorts. They are the nearest and dearest friends of
Christ. Bonaventura in turn recounts the self-denying
and apostolic life of St. Dominic, and the torrent-like
impetus of his enthusiasm. And with the Franciscans
are joined Hugo of St. Victor, Peter the Eater, Peter
of Spain ; Nathan the prophet, the Metropolitan
Chrysostom, Anselm, Donatus, Raban, Joachim the
Calabrian abbot.

Then, again, we find King David and King Hezekiah
with the Emperor Trajan and the Emperor Constantine,
and Virgil's Eipheus, “most just of the Trojans,” who
is said to have had anticipatory faith in Christ. They
are all in Paradise. In the seventh heaven’s contem-
plation we are introduced to no earlier exemplar of
the contemplative life than the Benedictine St. Pier
Damiano, eremite and cardinal. The poet takes occa-
sion to censure the cardinals of his time, who have

THE SYSTEM OF CHUKCH LITEEATURE.

371

departed from the example of the great mendicants,
St. Peter and St. Paul. But no allusion is made to
the -writings of Damiano. The poet refers to the
legends of Monte Cassino and other Benedictine clois-
ters, concerning their ideal founder, and concerning
Macarius and Bomuald. To St. James of Compostella
he appears to ascribe the canonical epistle. With St.
Peter and St. John, St. James assumes the place of a
leading doctor of the Church.

A further inYective against Boniface VIII. and other
Popes is put in the mouth of St. Peter, who wears the
aspect of Jove or Mars ; Linus, Cletus, Sextus, Pius,
Callixtus, and Urban are named as martyr-Popes. Sig-
nificant is the censure of the keys as a military ensign,
and of the seal attached to “ sold and lying privileges.”
The poet denounces the fables concerning the eclipse
at the Passion which were to be heard in the pulpits
of Plorence, and the jocularities of -Easter sermons;
he calls the friars of St. Antony swine. But the time
of primitive purity to which he looks back is the time
of the mendicants, or beyond them, in an aoristic past.

Hardly can he have perused the -writings ascribed to
St. Bernard, for St. Bernard is represented as gazing
with exceeding enthusiasm on the Blessed Virgin, whose
faithful servant he professes himself to he. Interesting
is the picture of the Croatian peasant viewing the
handkerchief of Veronica. It reminds us that for many
decades pictorial art had been impressing the Christian
legend on the minds of the multitude, with whom to
see is to believe. The absence of all chronological
taste is again observable when Eve is seen at the feet
of Mary, and beneath, Rachel, Beatrice, Sarah, Judith,
Rebecca, Ruth. Then -with John Baptist are associated
Augustine, Francis, and Benedict.

372

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

It is remarkable how little use the poet makes of the
New Testament, seeing that he contrasts so strongly
evangelical simplicity and purity with the pride and
depravity of the papal court. He appears to have de-
rived his ideas of the Gospel from the contemplation
of the lives of the mendicants and from the tenor of
their preaching. His knowledge of fathers and doc-
tors is about on a level with that revealed in the work
of Henry of Ghent; and on the whole his work is
decisive witness that the revival of classical literature
and the beginning of Church literature fell in nearly
the same period. The evidence as to the date of the
Divine Oomedy is, however, by no means so clear as
could be desired.’'

The Canterbury Tales are a stiU more valuable source
The Canter- of knowledge than the Divine Comedy. If
bury Tales, Were Written down not far from the

year 1480, they reflect light upon perhaps a century
before that date.

The author is well acquainted with the Eoman poets,
and with sentences of the Benedictine “ Fathers.” He
appears to be peculiarly fond of Seneca, whom he often
quotes, and whose works were now more fully known.
There is the same want of perspective in his view of
the past that we have noted in Dante. In one place
he says, while enforcing a moral lesson, “ Read David
in his Psalms, and read Senec.” Chaucer would
perhaps have been perplexed by the question, from
what age of the world these works had respectively
come downi He reads the books for the good in

^ I would ask the reader to consider all that Mr. Symonds and other
contemporary critics have written on the chronicles of the Italian cities,
and the uncertainty about their date and authenticity. He will see that
the Church chronicles cannot be separated, in this respect, from the secular
chronicles.

THE SYSTEM OF CHUECH LITEEATUEE.

373

them, not to ascertain their chronological relations or
differences of style.

The Rules of St. Benedict and St. Maur had grown
old in Chaucer’s time, as the picture of the hunting
abbot reminds us ; possibly they had been in existence
for some 200 years. He is incidentally a witness to
the early enthusiasm of the friars, and to the ill-repute
which they have now largely incurred: “Friars and
fiends be but little asunder.” There is a passage
which tends to confirm what has been said of the rela-
tion of the friars to the New Testament.

“ Our sweet Lord Jesus
Spake this of friars, wkeii he saide thus.

Blessed he tli&y that ^oor in spirit he.

And so forth all the Gospel may ye see
Whether it he liken our profession,

Or theirs that swimmen in possession.’^

But still more important is the view given in Chaucer
of the forms of Christian belief and practice among the
common people, because they aid to define our ideas
of what the preaching and teaching had been before
the “Fathers” had been written, and before there existed
any considerable body of readers to receive them.

In popular belief, Christ is certainly both God and
man; but the greater emphasis is laid upon popaUi
the idea of his Godhead. He is regarded as
Governor of the course of nature ; and, in fact, has
assumed, like another Apollo, the attributes of the
Supreme himself. His name is taken in vain with
what would now be considered an offensive profanity ;
he is thought of as a Being who bestows temporal
blessings or curses. He is “ the highe God on whom
that we believe,” “ the highe God who all this world
hath wrought,” and who has uttered the words recorded

374

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

in the Gospel. The violent contrast between one who
is conceived as Heaven’s King, yet a portion of whose
blood is preserved in the Abbey of Hales, is most
revolting. The Virgin is described as both mother
and daughter of Christ.

The great object of popular devout contemplation
is the Passion, which had long been dramatically
represented, and was perhaps beginning to be
figured upon devotional tablets. The Lord’s Prayer
is recited as a charm against evil spirits. A new
superstition has been introduced into the minds of
the people, or old superstitions have been christened.
It cannot be denied that we are brought nearer to
original Christianity in the following lines than in either
the canonical books or the Fathers —

“ Awake and think on Christens passioun,

I crouche thee from elves, and from wights.

Therewith the night-spell said he anon rights
On the four halves of the house about,

And on the threshold of the door without.

Lord Jesus Christ and Sainte Benedicte,

Blesse this house from every wicked wiglit,

From the nightmare^ the white Paternoster ;

Where wonnest thou now^ Sainte Peter’s sister ? ”

The Christianity of the people has been derived from
dral marvellous tales of unknown origin, supported
by the gross evidence of relics carried about by
pardoners from Kome : rags, shoulder-bones of holy
Jews’ sheep, the veil of our Lady, a gobbet from the
sail of St. Peter’s boat. These are the imaginary means
of securing physical weal. The whole representation
of Church belief and practice, as given in these extra-
ordinary revelations, shows that neither had sprung
from any soxuce but that of worldly ambition, greed,

THE SYSTEM OF CHURCH LITERATURE.

375

The Jews.

and lust. The noblest ideals of the New Testament
stand in ironical contradiction with the actual system
of the ecclesiastics. The few who lead blameless and
gentle lives are driven to the wall by the men of
violence, of blood, and extortion. The life that had
been lived in the synagogues in England must have
been incomparably purer and sweeter.

Yet we find the hideous conventional tales against
the Jews of their murdering children in theo-
logical animosity. It is represented that the
serpent Satan, who had “his wasps’ nest in the Jewish
heart,” inspired them to put an innocent boy out of
the world, who had gone through an Asian Jewry
singing the Ave Maiia. Such inhumanities of thought
against the unhappy people were the direct fruit of
the teaching of those who contrived the tale of
Herod’s massacre of the babes, which was repeated
each Advent-tide.

With regard to the Mohammedans, the poet is inci-
dentally a witness to their intense faith in
the Koran and the Prophet, and to the fact
that they regarded Christianity as a younger system.
The mother of the Sultan, who is willing to be christened
that he may wed the daughter of an Emperor of Eome
with the aid of the Pope of Kome, exclaims —

The Muslim,

“ Life shall rather out of my body start
Thau Mahomet’s law go out of mine heart.
What should we tiden of this newe law
But thraldom to our bodies and penance,
And afterward to hell to be y-draw,

For we renied Mahound our creance ? ”

At the time of this tale, the time of King EUa, the
poet thinks of all Northumberland as pagan; Wales
has become the refuge of Christianity, and the Book of

376

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

the Gospels produced is Briton. But there is not the
slightest indication that the poet, who seems master
of all the learning of his time, could have given any
chronological account of the beginnings of the Church
in this island. Beyond the fourteenth century his
glance plunges into the fabulous obscure. One may
well suppose that, had he fuUy possessed the romances
of Arthur, the monkish tales of Saxon and Norman
kings, we should have found greater wealth of allusion
to them. His knowledge of the old Eoman time, if so
it can be called, appears derived from the allegories of
the Gesta RomaTiorum, and from some passages in
Lucan. If Dante had no distinct view of historic
changes in the Western world, the English poet has
not acquired it.^

We pass on to the year 1492, when the Benedictine
Cat 1 g e Spanheim, John of Trittenheim,

XU. addresses himself to the compilation of another
list of ecclesiastical writers. It is still based
on those of Eusebius, Jerome, Gennadius, Isidore,
Honorius, and Sigebert. But the astonished reader
observes that in the interval of two centuries a vast
mass of books has been brought to light quite unknown
to any of the previous Catalogues. The fact is a decisive
proof that the fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries were
above all the ages for Church forgery. Jerome, Chry-
sostom, Augustine, and others, have now that bulky
appearance which age in the Church confers. In
regard to Augustine especially the contrast is amaz-
ing between Jerome, who can only name the work
on the Trinity, and the Abbot of Spanheim, who

^ See the illustrations of the state of thought in this period, in Buckle's
Sist of Givilisatiorij I. c. vi. It is needless to observe that Geoffrey of
Jilonmouth did not write in the twelfth century.

377

produces more than 200 works, and declares the man
to be a liar who says he has found the whole of
Augustine.

It is a curious fact that the Abbot, who ascribes
seven works to Henry of Ghent, makes no mention at
all of his work on ecclesiastical writers. It would
seem as if that Catalogue were being compiled near
the same time. The good Abbot ends his long list of
963 names with the modest insertion of his own, after
the precedents of Sigebert and the others. There are
some additional lists to this work, which found a con-
tinuator in Aubert Mirseus, Dean of Antwerp, whose
Ecclesiastical Library was published in 1 649.*

But if we are led, by the study of the imposing
Catalogue of the Abbot of Spanheim, to draw favour-
able inferences as to the state of culture in that cloister
during the fifteenth century, his own words will correct
us. In a homily he addresses his monks, telling them
that their predecessors had so sold and scattered the
library that he had only found fourteen volumes. In
1469 five dissolute monks had been cast out, with
their abbot, Otto de Colonna. His successor, John
de Colenhausen, is well spoken of. "Wheia De Tritten-
heim succeeded to the abbey, he made great exertions
for the furnishing of a library, which was without
rival in Germany. He had collected more than 2000
volumes from different parts of the world, MSS. and
printed books. But there had been no such learned
abbot, men said, since the time of St. Bernard.

If we glance at the contemporary library of Cardinal
Bessarion, and at that of the Vatican, we shall be
reminded how great a stimulus had been applied by
the invention of printing to the production and the

1 See Fabricius, BihL BccUs,, 1718.

378

THE KISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

study of ecclesiastical literature. Nicholas V. is said
to have collected 6000 volumes.

It is, as we have said, in the study of the Catalogues
The Missal, briefly reviewed that the whole system

and and structure of the Church literature may be

Gospels. approached. The history of the New Testa-
ment, for example, lies implicit in the history of the
Service Book. The history of the words Missa, Missal,
point back to corresponding synagogue use, and their
rise may be traced in the pseudo-Fathers, Ambrose and
others. It is convenient to think of the epoch of
Gregory IX., 1225-1240, as that in which the forma-
tion of the books called the Apostle and the Gospels
was incipient.

From Photius, the Eusebii, and from Suidas and
the rest, it can be clearly collected how gradually the
scheme of these books — the one to contain sentences
of Apostolic authority, the other narratives of the
“ sufferings, wonders, and teachings ” of the Saviour —
was executed. From Tertullian we learn how the
device of making imaginary heretics bear witness to
some form of these sacred books was adopted. But
these matters belong to the details of the subject.
The important thing is to observe the epoch at which
the work began, and the fact that the friars, as well
as the primitive monks, had their part in it.

The Epistles, when analysed, fall asunder into a
number of lections, or small epistles, and correspond-
ingly the Gospels into a number, of small gospels.
Each forms in the Missal an independent whole, illus-
trative of the observance of the day. Perused in that
light, most of the difficulties of interpretation vanish.
For example, the Gospel in John xiii. i-i 5, illustrates
the act of lavation, or washing of feet, still practised at

THE SYSTEM OF CHUKCH LITEEATURE.

379

Rome and Vienna on Maundy Thursday. It gives a
dramatic scene in which Christ prototypicaUy performs
the act, with the most solemn sacramental injunc-
tions for its continued observ'ance. The passage is a
dead letter to Protestants and to English Catholics,
yet is valuable as showing how Church literature
bases itself on custom, and how with the vitality or
decline of custom the idea floiuishes or decays.

The lection John v. 1-4, is in like manner explained
by reference to the dogma concerning St.

T> -u 1 u 1 i? ^1. 1 StKaphaeL

iiapnael, archangel, one 01 the seven angels
who stand before the Lord, of whom we read also in the
book of Tobias as deliverer from evil demons. He goes
down at certain seasons to wash in the pool. Raphael
came into the Church from Islam, as did Michael.

The passages relating to the blessed Virgin Mary can
only be understood when they are compared with the
ideas and sentiments awakened by the great feasts in
her honour, such as the Assumption, and with the
lessons from the Old Testament, which have contributed
to form her ideal in the conscience of the Church.

The canonical Acts of the Apostles can only be
understood in the hght of the origin of Whitsuntide,
the dogma of the third Person of the Trinity, and of
the mission to the Gentiles.

But the most important part of the New Testament
consists of the legenda of the Pascha. They legenda at
should be carried into the light of the Ladi
Paschales, the passion plays, of which we hear only
in the thirteenth century, in the Coliseum. It was by
an appeal o<yudis Jidelihus of the multitude, as well as
by preaching, that the great drama of the Passion
became impressed on their mind, with aU the antipathy
thereby excited against the Jews. It stands fast in all

38 o

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

the writings of the Greek and Latin doctors of the
Catalogues that the Passion was purely a dogma derived
from mystical exegesis of the Old Testament, and re-
presented as fact by sacred dramatic art.

In general it must be insisted upon, after all our
Tiie New aberrations in the study of the Epistles

Testament and Gospels, that these books were from the
first and still remain sacerdotal in their origin,
mystical and dogmatic in their character. They were
monastic, they were written in the cloister and for the
cloister, in sympathy with the life of the religious of the
cloister can alone be understood and obeyed. When the
reforming monk broke his vows, and wedded a nun,
he should have known that the New Testament was no
„ „ longer a book for him. The book is also

Kona an, Pon- ^

uiioaund Roman, Pontifical and Petrine; it contains
not the first but one of the most memorable
assertions of the primacy of Peter, as the holder of the
keys, and the first Vicar of Jesus Christ.

Now, with regard to the period of the composition of
„ ^ ^ the Epistles and Gospels, there are several

Date of the ^ i i . f ■,

New Testa- lines 01 evidence which conduct us toward a
tolerably safe conclusion . In the first place, the
Basilians and Benedictines teach that the New Testa-
ment is based on the Old. In a saying ascribed to St.
Jerome, he declares that everything in the Old Testa-
ment is a type of something in the New, everything in
the New Testament is a fulfilment of some prophecy in
the Old. If those Orders were not in possession of the
lessons of the Synagogue in some version until some
time in the twelfth century, the New Testament could
not have been begun till that age.

Again the Service Books, whether of Rome or Sarum,
cannot be dated earlier than that age. The Roman

THE SYSTEM OF OHUECH LITERATUEE. 381

Missal, as we now have it, shows a long history of
elaboration in the hands of the monks and the friars.

Another fact in this connection is that the writers of
the New Testament show great acquaintance with the
Talmud, as scholars have recognised since Lightfoot.
It was not until the thirteenth century that the Talmud
became the object of jealous denunciation and violence
on the part of the churchmen ; it could not have been
known to them at least until late in the preceding
age. Nor is it irrelevant to this subject to bear in mind
that the Benedictines of Cluny do not give an earlier
date for their Latin mistranslation of the Koran than
1 143, which is proleptic. Their debt to the Koran and
to the Talmud probably commences at nearly the same
epoch.

Another aid to the determination of the period lies
in the Eitual Book, the Ordo Romanus I. of xhe ordo
the Benedictines. The legends of the Passion
lie implicit in this book. In the next age we may
conceive the Easter stations beginning to be held, on
Sunday in S. Maria Major, on Monday in S. Mabiiion.
Peter, on Wednesday in S. Laurence, and on “•
Thursday in S. Paul.

Again: there is a strong affinity of the legends of
the Franciscans to many most significant
passages of the New Testament. And if ^s^the
these passages are historic reflections of the meSi.^****'
Franciscan ideal, the New Testament could
not have been completed until the thirteenth century.
The case stands thus: Either the Franciscans copied
the miracles of Christ into the life of their founder, or
they saw in their founder qualities which served to fix
their ideal of the Christ. And there are many ideals
of the Christ in the New Testament.

382 THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

It was in the time of the Franciscan enthusiasm that the
following words first acquired that spirit and life which
has long deserted them, at least for the mass of our
lay people, who nevertheless profess to obey them : —

“ Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, in your
purses ; nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats,
neither shoes, nor yet staves : for the workman is
worthy of his meat.”

“ If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast,
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven ; and come and follow Me.”

“ Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren,
or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or
lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold,
and shall inherit everlasting life.”

“Plaving food and raiment, let us be therewith
content.”

To St. Francis is ascribed the saying, “Poverty
is Christ’s bride and friend ; she is root and foundation
and queen of all virtues. If the friars forsake her, the
whole covenant is dissolved ; if they hold fast to her,
and give the world a pattern and example, the world
will nourish them.”

“ Go two and two, and preach peace to all, keeping
it in yoTlr own hearts. Be not led astray to hate and
wrath ; be not misled from the path you have entered.
We are called to guide wanderers, to heal the wounded,
and raise up the bowed down.”

Passages like this would prove little, inasmuch as
similar passages are known to and commented on by
Cassian of the Benedictines, who, however, had not pre-
cisely our New Testament in his hands. But there
are other passages which correspond more exactly to
the ideal of the saint, who for example is described as

THE SYSTE^iI OF CHUECH LITERATUEE. 3S3

SO greatly the object of reverence in Bologna in the
year 1220, that men and women rushed upon him in
crowds, and he thought himself blessed who could but
touch the hem of the saint’s garment. When he
preached it is said that men of letters wondered greatly
at his discourse, for he was an unlettered man.

It has even been said that the Franciscans endea-
voured to exalt their founder over Christ Himself in
respect of his holiness and perfection. He hungered
forty days, changed vinegar into wine, cast out devils,
and raised the dead. Often he spoke with Christ ; and
at last Christ Himself pressed upon him the marks of
the nails on his hands and feet. It is true that the
Dominicans jealously denied this, themselves having
prolific or analogous miracles. The legend, how-
ever, obtained its sanction, and the seventeenth day of
September recalls the memory of the stigmas of St.
Francis Confessor. The prayer recites how, when the
world was growing cold, Christ renewed the sacred
marks of His Passion in the flesh of the blessed Francis ;
the Epistle, Gal. vi. 14-18, speaks of glorying in the
cross, and of the bearing of the marks of the Lord Jesus
in the body ; while the Gospel teaches self-denial and
the taking up the cross to follow Christ.

These passages are also remarkable as showing that
at the time they were composed the cross — at the time
of the first Crusade solely the sign of victory and
triumph — ^has become confused with the crucifix, and
is now the centre of wonderful mysteries, shown forth
especially by Divine revelation in the blessed Francis.

Similarly, when it is said that St Dominic, as head
of the Preaching Order, began to teach pub- jhe Doiaini-
licly in his thirtieth year after the example
of Christ, it is that the example of Christ, as that of the

384

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

Baptist, prince of monks, has been found to illustrate
and dignify the preacher’s rule and calling. All these
things can be understood in the light of that time when
every important institution, from the foundation of
Monte Cassino onwards, was traced to the inspiration of
the Divine human founder of the Church. In general,
our inquiries in this department of Church literature
point steadily to the conclusion to which we have been
led again and again, that it was not till the time of
Innocent III., or later, the foundations were finally laid,
and that the canon of the New Testament could have
been fiLxed.

It may be added that the geography of the New
Geoo^raphyof Testament is the incorrect geo^aphy of the
the&ew time of the third Crusade, while Syria was
yet a dreamland in the conception of the
West. Its historical geography, before and after the
Crusades, sorely needs to be written. Such a work
would dispel many a lingering delusion.

It is not yet clear whether the book was first written
in Latin or in Greek. Perhaps the opinion may be
ventured that it reads better in the Vulgate than in
other versions, and that the Greek corresponds nearly
to that of Cedrenus and writers of the Basilian Order
in general.

Perfectly correct is the remark of Professors Pierson
and Naber, in their work, Verisimilia, that the oldest
foundation of Church ideas is not to be found in the
New Testament. We may dig and dig again, they
say, but there is always an earlier stratum, as in the
cities of Asia Minor or of Greece. To this earlier
stratum of Church tradition the attention of the reader
may presently he invited. It will reveal great crudi-
ties, and suggest through what a long process of

THE STSTEir OF CHUECH LITERATURE. 385

refinement the canonical Gospels and Epistles have
passed.

The Book of the Popes shows the same kind of
structure with the rest of the biographic The Book of
literature. Not a line of any such book
could have been penned tiU late in the thirteenth
century, if even then. The terms pontiff and papa
were of late introduction ; in the early Catalogues the
Bishop of the City of Rome is still spoken of.

Passing over for the moment the monstrous tales of
the Popes of the tenth century — the obscure age of
the mythologists — the notices referring to the next or
“ Hildebrandine Age,” consist merely of crude official
lists in barbarous style and various hands. There is
a poor Life of Hildebrand, falsely dated 1128; there
is a pamphlet on the same subject by Cardinal Benno.
A Life of Paschal II. introduces the first description
of the Consecration and the Procession in the Sacred
Way. Various writers, as Peter of Pisa, Pandulf,
Cardinal Boso, continue the Papal succession for the
next age. But there are significant gaps. With
Innocent HI. begins a new series of Lives, still broken.
A laudation of Innocent IV. has been ascribed to his
chaplain, N. de Curbio. As we have no genuine por-
trait in painting, so neither have we in literature of any
thirteenth century Pope.

After that time the biographic department appears
to have fallen into the hands of the Dominicans. The
name of Martin the Pole marks another tedious tale
of falsification in connection with his Chronicle, said
to have been written about 1270. Then we have
Ptolomseus of Lucca, who produces a Church History
to the year 1313; Augerius, who brings us to 1321 ;
and Henry of Diessenhoven, to 1361. The Lives of the

386

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

Avignon Popes, written in the French cloisters, have
been edited by Muratori.

Convenient compilations are those of Platina, and
of Joannes Stella, from the fifteenth or sixteenth
century. The latter makes free use of the Canons in
Gratian.

With regard to Gratian’s collection of Canons, it

^ win be remembered that Poggio attacked the

The Deere- , , _ . °° .

turn of author, exposed the Latin or the compilation,
and denounced it as a system of forgery. A
warning — too long neglected — to inquire into the
quality of the Papal archives.

A second coUection has been ascribed to Innocent
III., a third to Honorius III., and the complete Code to
Raimund the Dominican, 1234. But as we have seen,
the author was gradually discovered at a later date.
Another book is said to have been added by Boniface
VIII. It is more probable that the system of fabrication
was begun in the time of that ambitious Pope.

On the Gratianic collection of Canons, Gregoro-
vius remarks : — “ This famous Code of the Middle
Age stands before us to-day, when criticism has long
unmmasked its inventions and lies, the legal Colossus
of the barbarism and darkness in which mankind for
so many centuries lay exiled. It rested on them with
oppressive weight, falsified the constitutional ideas of
Church and State, and obscured the judgment of long
periods simply in order to secure to the priesthood, and
above aU, to the Papacy, the rule of the world.”

This collection contains the false Donation of Con-
stantine and the Isidorian Decretals. But it is not
probable that any part of this literature was compiled
tin the fourteenth century, as attention to other parts
of the evidence will show.

THE SYSTEM OE CHUECH LITEEATURE. 387

It may be regarded as certain that the pseudo-
Decretals do not date before the time of „ ,

Pseudo-

Boniface VIII. at the earliest. They reflect Oeoretajs of
the desire of the Papal lawyers to prove the
right of the Popes to universal dominion, both as
temporal and spiritual lords. Not till that time could
the Church boldly assert herself as the kingdom of this
world, of which Christ was the Head, the Pope being
Vicar of Christ-God, so that whoso had not the Pope
for his head had not Christ. The like proud pre-
tensions are no doubt connected with the name of
Innocent III., but according to aU indications, his time
was that of the very infancy of the system.

Formerly the Book of the Popes, like the Decretals,
was assigned to the ninth century, and to the hand of
Anastasius the Librarian. But attention to the facts
about libraries and librarians is sufficient entirely to
dispel this illusion. Moreover, the contents of the
Lives referred to that age are wholly incredible, as
the example of the female and maternal Pope reminds
us — a tale that certainly did not spring up until the
thirteenth century, as DoUinger has shown. That the
tale should have been suggested to fancy by the sight
of some statue of a woman with a child in the Lateran
Way, if so it was, reminds us how obscure and fabulous
the distant ninth century must have appeared to the
later age. There is a number of other violent tales,
emanations from the Benedictine cloisters ; the dis-
crepancies in dates betray the mendacity of them, as
for example in the horrible tale concerning Pope
Pormosus. In the next age we have the strange
romance about Theodora, the new Semiramis and mag-
nificent patroness of the Apostolic Chair. Again the
tale helps us to estimate the great distance at which

388 THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

the writers must have lived from that age. If it he
asked, Why did the Papal romancers venture on these
astounding fictions ? our answer is that they were
to the taste of their times. And the more romantic
the story of the Papacy was conceived to have been,
the more wickedly the Popes were believed to have
lived, the greater the Divine marvel in the perpetua-
tion of the institution. But enough of these details.
The question is. When did the Benedictines and
Dominicans begin this series of fables ?

There have been the usual wild conjectures as to
the date of the MSS. But the opinion of the specialist
Giesebrecht coincides with the general results of the
study of the Catalogue literature. The parent MS.
comes from La Cava of the Benedictines. Folio 1-171
has been written in one hand from St. Peter to
Honorius 11 ., 1126. Foho 172-185 has been written
in one hand jfrom Innocent II. to Hadrian V., 1131-
1275. Now this last hand is of the fourteenth century.
It is a weighty fact.

Giesebrecht remarks that the Book of the Popes
reflects throughout the spiritual movement of the whole
West — that of the Benedictines as well as of Eome.
It is clearly revealed here, as in their other sources,
how determined they were to make Church heroes of
Pipin and Charlemagne, who stand out from the
desolation of following times even as Constantine
stands out from the sterility of the period between him
and Islam. The monks have laboured at this idea of
an alliance between the Popes and the Frankish kings,
but it falls baseless so soon as the epoch of their first
literary activity is discovered. The Catalogue of the
Popes is later than the Catalogues of the illustrious
writers of the Church. It is simply another camera

THE SYSTEM OF CHUECH LITERATUEE. 389

from which Church portraits have been cast upon the
artificial screen of earlier ages.

To turn for a moment to the contents of the book.
They are a clumsy miscellany of notices of chaxaoterof
buildings, votive offerings, Church usages,
and the like, hung, so to speak, as on pegs, on the
names of the Popes. Simon Peter comes to Eome to
take his seat in the cathedra, because the city, as head
of the whole world, was suitable for the pontifical seat.
He overcame Simon Magus. He was crucified head
downwards. His canonical deeds are recited, and it is
claimed that he was elected by Christ to the supreme
pontificate, with the power of the keys. His pro-
totype is Moses. He instituted the fast of Quadra-
gesima, as is clear from Canon XCIII. He appointed
Linus and Cletus as his suffragans, also Clemens.

But we will not pursue the extraordinary tale of
inventions and anachronisms. It would be tedious and
useless, after all that has been said on the subject.
There are many curiosities of structure : in particular it
may be seen how certain ideals are duplicated ; how
the wicked Damasus II. finds a mythic fore-type in the
violent Damasus I. and the like in other cases. It
is only when we reach Popes the third of their name
that we approach the actual historic time.

Such a profound impression of system and of mass
is made upon the unwary reader who wades through
the literature we have reviewed, so is he affected by
the constant tone of piety prevading the whole
imaginary retrospect, that he is still liable to faU back
into illusion, and to mistake a dream-world for reality ;
and he needs to turn renewed attention to the actual
state of things during all the twelfth century. He
wakes to discover the striking poverty of all literature.

390

THE KISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

He finds that our English chroniclers dated in that
age appear to know more of Eome than the Romans
themselves. He finds Jews and Manichees swarming
everywhere, Peter Lombard’s text-book unknown as
yet in the Cathedral Schools, the academies of Paris,
Bologna, Padua, Naples, and Rome not yet able to
make themselves felt. There was, in short, no public
in any part of the world in whose ears the historic and
theologic declamation of the Papal army could have
been intelligible until late in the next century.

Let us assemble in one representation all that can be
known of other branches of Church art — sculpture,
where the epochal name is Nicolas of Pisa ; painting,
where Cimabue furnishes a landmark ; Gregorian music,
developed in Cluny and Citeaux ; every indication is
of the thirteenth century as that in which progress in
these departments began to be made.

Note.

I have referred in my Preface to the surprise with which I recently
found that Eather Hardouin had in 1690-1692, when he was of the
mature age of forty-five, arrived at results almost identical with those
set forth in these pages. In case his Prolegom&na, London 1766,
should not he readily accessible to the reader, I give a brief statement
of his opinions. The ecclesiastical history of the first twelve cen-
turies is absolutely fabulous. The series of Popes is no more authentic
then the series of Jewish high-priests. The theory of a succession
of Eathers down to St. Bernard is analogous to the theory of the
Rabbins of a succession of prophets to Ezra, and after him of a suc-
cession of wise men. The monks said, “The Fathers were until
Bernard, the Scholastics to Thomas Aquinas, after him all were in-
fants.” Their frauds must have been begun long after the stated
time of Bernard. The agreement, often verbatim, of the monastic
chronicles, e.^., for the year 1215, show that they came from one
workshop. Not one was written by a contemporary of the events
described. The opportune time for the forgers was from some epoch

THE SYSTEM OE CHUECH LITEEATUEE.

39t

in the thirteenth century onwards, until past the epoch of printing.
They had among them astronomers, physicians, poets, savants in
Hebrew and Arabic. The name of Planudes, 1350, translator of
Augustine on the Trinity into Greek, marks an epoch a little later
than the production of that work in Latin. During about 1350-1480
were written the works which have been ascribed to the eleventh
and following ages, especially the Decretals of the Popes. Charters,
diplomata, false privileges, were concocted during the same period
in the cloisters of Italy, France, and Germany. The books were
written on parchment rather than paper, that they might appear older
and last longer. The oldest MSS. contain both the works of the
Fathers, still considered genuine, and those which have been reckoned
false from disparity of style and other reasons.

The forgers had the measure and form of letters for different
centuries, and corresponding parchments and inks, by -which they
simulated a seventh, eighth, or ninth century style. Cf. Mont-
faucon, PalceograpMa, p. 326, where a fourteenth century scribe imi-
tates the eleventh century character. Copies which have been supposed
to date from the eighth century on the credit of the statement of the
writers show the same form of writing, the same character, because
the copyists had the same alphabet before their eyes. In the year
1712 was edited the Epitome of Lactantius from the MS. of the Turin
Library. The editor gave a specimen of the letters ; it is the same
character as that of the Eoyal MS. of St. Paul’s Epistles (see Mont-
faucon, PalcBographia, p. 217), and that of the St. Germain MS. of
the same Epistles (p. 218), and the Paris MS. of the four Gospels.
So similar is the character that you might swear that these MSS.
were not only from one workshop, hut from one hand, or if from
many hands, certainly from those who had the same alphabet before
their eyes, or same form of letters. Cf. Mabillon, De Re Bvplom,^
P* 233-

A MS. of St. Jerome in the Eoyal Library of Paris bears a Greek
epigraph stating that it was -written in the eleventh century. Experts
would say that it dates from the fifteenth century. Ho Hebrew MSS.
in our libraries are believed to be older than the fourteenth century.
In Hebrew character the forgers could not, as in Latin, pretend a
Merovingic, Lombardic, Saxon form.

There are no Biblical MSS. in the libraries not elegantly -written
and finished, because there are none incorrupt. Of the Yulgate
there are no copies, because such were written only for use, and when
worn out were cast away. There was no Eoyal Library in France

392

THE EISE OF CHEISTEls^DOM.

till Charles V., the Wise, 1364-1380. So late as 1304, Simon,
Bishop of Paris, had no books to bequeath to his Church except
hooks for the use of the Church of Paris. In 1279 the legacy of
Simon Tempier, Bishop of Paris, consisted of two Missals, one Gospel
and Epistles, three Graduals, one Episcopal Ordinary, a Breviary in
large letters, and two others, a Collectarium, and a Troperium or
hymn-book. Mention is also made of a Bible in two volumes, which
he bought for ;^200. No Greek or Latin Father, no Peter Lombard
even, is mentioned. Yet Peter Lombard is supposed to have lived
a hundred years before, to have been Bishop of Paris, and to have
been a great Patristic scholar !

In 1271 the Archdeacon of Canterbury bequeaths all his theological
books to the Chancellor of Paris. There is not a Father nor a
Scholastic among them. In C. Hemeraeus’ work on the Academy of
Paris, a catalogue of books from the Armarium of St. Mary of Paris
is given. It dates from the fourteenth century. There are thirty-
eight volumes with Biblical matter. Two more volumes contain the
Sentences of Peter Lombard, and the Questions of Peter of Poitiers.
There is no Father, no ecclesiastical historian.

At the capture of Constantinople, 1453, there are said to have
been only fifty MSS. in the Patriarchium, only 180 in the whole
city. In the West, Montfaucon numbers 20,000. The Greek MSS.
were first written in the West.

F. Hardouin says of the Acts of Martyrs, that it was necessary
they should be written equally with the Ecclesiastical History and
the Lives of Saints, so that it might appear that in every age of the
Church the doctrine contained in the writings of the Fathers had
been approved and handed down by holy men, and that numberless
martyrs had poured forth their blood in defence of the same. With
strange* irony he adds that these fictitious stories of martyrs had given
rise to true martyrs in his own time, in Japan, Brazil, amd elsewhere.
So the Almighty had brought good even out of lies. The good
J esuits, reading those stories, had heen inspired to devote their lives
and labours, and to undergo cruel tortures like unto their God. They
say that J. Gerson wrote that it was right to invent Lives of Saints,
with the view of fostering piety.

The age which saw the rise of the Eomance in Western literature,
witnessed also the compilation of the Ecclesiastical Histories and Lives
of the Saints. The Church was deceived when she believed the
writings of the Fathers to be genuine without examination, and when

THE SYSTEM OF CHUECH LITEEATUEE.

393

she suffered lies to be inserted in the Breviary and the public prayers,
T^ith stories of Honorius, George, Catherine, and others.

F. Hardouin dates the first design of the forgers in France from
Philip Augustus, 1180-1229. Much more was done under Philip the
Fair, 1285-1314, and under Philip of Valois, 1328-1350; and the
construction of literature went on to an immense extent during the
next 150 years.

The evidence, however, does not seem clear as to the priority, as he
maintains, of the Latin Church, the Latin Bible and Service Books,
over the Greek. The books, while the Greeks and Latins remained
in union, appear to have been written in both tongues.

CHAPTEE X.

EARLY FORMS OF THE CHRISTIAN LEGEND.

And now once more it is necessary to tread again old
ground, and to place before the reader the brief outline
of the story published to the world at the opening of
the Universities by the members of the Orders.

They, at the end of the twelfth century, can produce
no testimony of “folk who had seen length of days,
and had talked much anent sic matters,” to borrow
the phrase of our Walter Scott. They can refer to
none whose memory in a green old age might carry
them back to an epoch where links might again be
formed with a dim past. No ! they talk much of
Paradosis or tradition ; but this is found to consist of
paper links, of dogmatic notes, of chips from the literary
workshops where the whole work of theological con-
struction is going on. There is no simple intelligible
account of a martyrdom on behalf of a popular cause,
not a line which proceeds from one who had his eye
fixed on historic objects. All smells of the scriptorium,
the parchment, and the lamp.

All is deduced from Theology and Christology. Christ
is more divine than the mass of men suppose,
chnstoiogy. dignified name of Christians has been

derived from Him. His mode is twofold. As God,
He may be compared with the head of the body ; and
He may be compared with the feet, in so far as He

394

EARLY FORMS OF THE CHRISTIAN LEGEND. 395

put on man of like passions with us for the sake of
our salvation.^

The Christians are of great antiquity, although there
are men who suspect them to be a new and foreign
sect, of yesterday and not before. Por the Hebrew
prophet asks. Who shall declare His generation f
None knows the Father except the Son, nor could any
authority know the Son except the Father who begat
Him. Our author is not citing the New Testament.

The epithets or titles of Christ are —

1. The Light before the World. The Titles of

2. The intelligent and substantial Wisdom

before the Ages.

3. The living God- Word, in the beginning with

the Father existent.

4. The first and only Offspring of God before all

Creation and Workmanship, seen and unseen.

5. The Arch-General of the celestial, rational, and

immortal Host.

6. The Angel of the Great Council.

y. The Minister of the unutterable designs of the
Father.

8. The Demiurge or Creator of all things together
with the Father.

g. The Second Cause of all things after the Father.

10. The genuine and only-begotten Son of God.

11. The Lord and God and King of all begotten
things, who has received the rank and might
with Divinity itself, and power and honour from
the Father.

The “ mystic theologies of Scriptures ” declare that —
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
toward God, and the Word was God. AU things
^ Easeb., JS'., i. i, 9.

396

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

became through Him, and apart from Him nothing
became.” ^

It is maintained that Moses, the most ancient of
the Prophets, bears witness to Him in the words, “ Let
us make man,” and that the Psalmist, xxxiii. 9, alludes
to a second Divine Being, the Word. The Word
appeared to Abraham as an ordinary man, also to Jacob.
Joshua or Jesus, the successor of Moses, called the
Word the Arch-General of the power of the Lord, hav-
ing beheld Him in human form and shape. It was
He with whom Joshua-Jesus conversed at Jericho, He
who spoke to Moses from the bush. Personified Sophia
or Wisdom in the book of Proverbs is identified
with the Word as one pre-mundane essence which
ministered to the Father from the creation of the
world.

Christ was not early preached to the nations, because
their savage state would not admit of it.
ori^rfthe War was made on God, and there were
ohnatians. q£ gjants agaiust heaven. Dire punish-

ments fell on the race, until at the last pitch of its
wickedness, “the first-bom and first-created Sophia
of God, and very pre-existent Logos by excess of
philanthropy, appeared in visions of angels or in His
own person.” So the seeds of piety were scattered ;
and the whole nation derived from the Hebrews
was devoted to the worship of God. This new people
received through Moses images and symbols of a cer-
tain mystical Sabbath and circumcision, and initia-
tion into other mystical theorems, though not the
absolutely plain mystagogies. Such was the origin of
the nation of Christians, or of the Catholic Church.

We are now invited to make a great leap in historic

1 John i. I, is slightly fuller in expression.

EARLY EOEMS OF THE CHEISTIAH LEGEND. 397

contemplation, from Moses to the Emperor Augustus.
The New Law spread through the world TheEeignof
like a fragrant breeze, men’s manners were
softened and prepared, until at the beginning of
the Roman Empire the Teacher of Virtues Himself
in human form appeared, died, and suffered such things
as followed from the prophecies. For they had foretold
that Man at once and God should sojourn in life, a
doer of strange deeds, and that to all nations a Teacher
of the pity of the Father should be shown ; they had
foretold the strangeness of His generation, and the new
teaching and the marvels of the works ; the manner of
the death, the resurrection from the dead, and finally,
the Divine restitution into heaven.

Here is one of the earliest statements of the Credo,
the manifesto or symbol of the primitive Orders. We
have not arrived at the time when it is represented as
the joint constructive work of the College of Apostles,
as in the treatise of Rufinus, the monk of Aquileia.
One prophecy is here cited in support of the argument,
it is that in Daniel concerning the throne of the Ancient
of Days, and the eternal authority of the Son of Man.^

It is then shown that the names Jesus and Christ

have been also derived from the Hebrew „

The Names

Scriptures. Christus is the rendering, however Jesus and
inexact, of the Hebrew epithet of the high-
priest, Ha-Mashich, the Anointed. The successor of
Moses was not at first called Jesus, but Navd, by his
parents. Moses gave him the name Jesus as a high
^stinction much greater than that of royalty, for it
typified the Saviour. This argument rests on the faet
that in the Septuagint Joshua son of Nun becomes
Jesus son of Nav^, Nauses, or Auses.® One of the

1 viL 9 ff.

^ Cf. Elis. n. E. iv. 17.

398

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

Latin monks says that Osee was the earlier name, and
that it means Saviour. Later than them, the canonical
writer in Matthew says that Jesus means Saviour.

It was thus that Moses bestowed the appellation of
Jesus Christ upon the two most distinguished men of
his time, the high-priest, and the destined leader after
himself. After Moses, the Prophets name the Christ,
and foretell the plots of the Jews against Him, and the
calling of the nations through Him. Two references
are then given, both of them utterly false in their in-
terpretation, as the merest tyro in Biblical criticism is
aware.^

The anointed Jewish kings were shadowy, eikonic
Typical Christs, images of a royal authority. Some
Christs. Prophets also became Christs in type,

through the chrism or anointing. They bore relation
to the true Christ, the supreme High-priest, King, and
Prophet. But these shadowy Christs of old never
called their subjects Christians, nor received reverence
from them. Nor were men disposed to die for them
after their death. Shadows they were, and symbols
only ; they could stir up no excitement among the
nations of the world. They could not vie with the
reality exhibited by the Head of the Christians.

He received no symbols and types of high-priesthood ;
He derived not His blood from priestly men ; He was
not raised to empire by human guards ; He was not a
prophet hke those of old ; He attained no dignity nor
precedence among the Jews. Yet in preference to all
He is called Christ, the only true Christ of God who
has filled the world with the truly august and sacred
appellation of Christian. He has handed down no
longer types and images, but the mere virtues them-
^ Lam. iv. 20 ; Ps. ii. 7.

EAELT FOEMS OF THE CHEISTIAH LEGEND. 399

selves, and a celestial life with the very dogmata of
truth, to His Thiasotes, the members of His secret com-
munion.

He has received the Divine chrism by the Divine
Spirit, by participation of the unbegotten and paternal
Godhead, as Esaias taught, and also the Psalmist.^ He
was not bodily anointed among the Jews, He was not
of the tribe of priests, but He held an immortal and un-
decaying priesthood to endless ages from God Himself
before the Morning Star.®

The monk of the Basilian Order closes his Christology
with the remarkable words, “ Let these things be my
necessary premises before the History, that no one may
think that our Saviour the Lord J esus the Christ is a
new-comer because of the times of His incarnate polity.
That no one may think the teaching of Him new and
strange, as if we should suspect that by a new man,
and one in no respect differing from the rest of men, it
had been contrived.”

It is with fresh interest, in the light of this great
transcendental theory, that the incident of the anointing
by the woman with the alabaster box of ointment, the
ascription of kingship to Christ in the mouth of Pilate,
and the predictions of Christ in the canonical narra-
tives, may be read. The incident of the two swords
has also reference to the pretensions, both spiritual
and temporal, of the rising Christian empire. Its head
is revered both as Ceesar and Supreme Pontiff, the
rival of the old wearers of the purple, whose memory
was a distant dream at the time of the composition of
the Christology. As old Eoman poets had sung of

1 Esa. lii ; Ps. xliv. 6 ; 109.

2 The legend in Snidas, s, v. Tijo-oik, must therefore have been earlier than
the Keel, History.

400

THE EISE OF CHEISTEHDOM.

Deus Csesar, the first and only salvation of the world, ^
so now the monks chant the praises of Christus Deus
as sole Euler of mankind.

The monks, like old Eoman conspirators, were dazzled
with the vision of the purple, as the charming legend
of St. Martin may remind us. But not until an epoch
when the old Imperium had become a name and a
shadow, not until the sinews of its strength had utterly
failed, could these extraordinary claims of the Thiasos
of Christus to world-empire have been put forward,
even in the most veiled and allegorical form, without
being promptly extinguished in blood. Nor were they
actually asserted in medieeval Eome without bloodshed.

The Basilian historian continues to turn the leaves
The New of his Septuagiut version in search of traces
Nation. q£ Natiou existent in fact, though

not in name. He traces them in Esaias Ixvi. 8, finds
them in the time before Abraham ; nay, their mode of
life was laid down at the creation. They who lived
between Adam and Abraham, as they did hot observe
circumcision, Sabbaths, abstinence, certainly fore-
shadowed the Christians ; and they in the Patriarchal
time clearly knew and conversed with the Christ of
God. In his uncircumcised state Abraham received
the great promise of a posterity. All this has been
written down, be it remembered, before the great
canonical saying ascribed to Christ Himself, “Before
Abraham was, I am.”

It may relieve the subject if we recall the fact that
Allegorical in tMs attempt to convert the Hebrew Scrip-
H?me?and°* tures iuto a repository of allegories and symbols
of the Bible, Christianity, the monks were to some extent
copying the example of some of the later Greek
1 Maitial, k. 66, Yiii. 66, v. 3, ix. 27, 87 ; Statius, Sito., v. i, 37.

EAELT FORMS OF THE CHEISTLVN LEGEND. 401

philosophers in dealing with Homer. Homer had
once been the Bible of the Greeco-Eoman schools. He
was used in the interests of moral edification. Maxi-
mus of Tyre compares his poetry to the painting of a
Polygnotus or a Zeuxis. The painter wiU aim both
at art and at virtue. He will seek to reproduce the
truth of form and substance, yet his lines will be drawn
in imitation of beauty. So in Homer's writing there
is the poetic element, which assumes the form of fable,
and the philosophic element, which commends and
teaches virtue. AchiUes and Agamemnon present
images of the passions of youth and of authority. In
contrast stands Nestor, the image of age, prudence, and
eloquence. Thersites represents the ugliness of the
disorderly multitude. In the brave gentleman and
perfect leader, who restrains the fleeing noble with
gentle words, and who strikes the noisy plebeians with
his sceptre, you have the image of Socrates in his
converse with a Timseus, a Parmenides, or a Thrasy-
machus.

Paris opposed to Hector is intemperance and
cowardice opposed to bravery and temperance. And
so with the other heroes. Athena is understood as
the principle of virtue, and Aphrodite as the prin-
ciple of love. In the Odyssey, Homer mirrors the
perfect state ; and the moly of Circe is allegorical of
heroic and invincible valour.^ Homer, in short, is the
Prince of Philosophers, and sound morality and life-
wisdom is to be extracted horn his pages. Maximus,
who disdains the Greek sophists from Thrace or
Cilicia, certainly did not dream of the invasion of
the schools by Orientals or Orientalised sophists, who
should cast aside Homer altogether in favour of writings

403

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

out of which, they were to extract ambitious theories
of government rather than incentives to personal im-
provement. He converts poetic persons into general
forms of thought ; the monks of St. Basil convert ideas
into poetic persons. The contrast of the books, the
method, and the intention, marks the great chasm that
lies between the old and the new philosophy.

The extraordinary value attached to the Hebrew
books witnesses both to the great ascendancy of the
Rabbins from the twelfth century, and still more to
that of the Muslim, who had for many ages been appeal-
ing as the warrant for Islam to “ the books of old, the
books of Ibrahim and Musa.^ It is useful to remind
ourselves at this point that the Christology of the
Church is ignored or denounced by the unanimous
voice of the Mosque and the Synagogues.

But to return. Eusebius proceeds to deal in the
TheEpi- Same theological manner with the Incarnate
phany. Epiphany of the Saviour as a journey. There
are in him and his confreres discrepancies in the date
of the Nativity, which is said to have fallen some time
in the period 749-753 of the city of Rome. There are
also discrepancies about the census under Augustus.
Of more importance is the revelation of the manner in
which the legend of the Advent was constructed. The
first Adam was formed on the sixth day. Now, since
one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, it follows
that on the sixth day of a millenary Jesus Christ
appeared on earth. The millenary was the sixth from
Adam, or the 5500th year, accordiug to the general
opinion. Some said more, some less ; but at aU events,
the appearance must have been in the last times,
according to Scripture.

1 Surahj Ixxxvii. lo.

EAELY FOEMS OF THE CHRISTIAN LEGE 51 D. 403

Then again, according to the Scriptures, Christ must
be bom at the time when the ancient rulers of the
J ewish nation ceased. The Basilians accordingly make
their Josephus state that Herod the Idumsean was their
first foreign ruler. The chronological argument is also
supported from David. It is needless, after all that
has been said of the origin and date of the writings
of “ Josephus,” to explore these contrivances further.

It has before been noticed that the first ecclesiastical
historian has nothing but the bare scheme of The Oenea-
the Gospels in his hands. He labours to
reconcile the discrepancies of the two genealogies of
Christ by pointing out that one is calculated according
to nature, the other according to law. Both the real
and reputed fathers of Joseph have been recorded, in
agreement with the Levirate law. Then he pretends
that Herod the Great came from Ascalon, and that,
humiliated by the sense of his lowly birth, he committed
the archives of the great Jewish families to the flames.
A few persons had copies, and among them were the
Desposyni, or relatives of the Lord. They came from
Nazaroi andKochaba, Judaic villages, and they recalled
the genealogy of Christ.

It appears that He becomes heir of David through
His legal or adopted father Joseph, while Mary as an
heiress is assumed to be of the same tribe with J oseph.
But the legend of the Holy Family carries us back
through the little or apocryphal Gospels to the Koran.
The Gospel of the Birth of Mary says that she was
sprung of the royal race of David, bom at Nazareth,
and educated at Jerasalem. Her father was Joachim,
her mother Anna, the former of Nazareth, the latter of
Bethlehem. The Protevangelivm of James elaborates
the legend of Joachim and Anna, and Mary is ascer-

404

THE EISE OF CHEISTEEDOM.

tained by the high-priest to be of the tribe of David.
This Gospel is the true link between the New Testa-
ment and the Koran. The monks here for once desert
the Old Testament, for the Miriam of its pages could
not supply the ideal of Mary in the New.

The exaltation of Mary in the cult of the Church
The Cult of ^ direct consequence of the exaltation

the Blessed of Christ. The Basilians, who follow Eusebius

Virflnn

as historian, denounce his theology as too
low when he describes Christ as the Second Cause.
If Christ became God absolutely in the dogma, then
necessarily Mary must become Mother of God. But
this worship was cautiously introduced, or it was
forced upon the Church by the feehng of the peoples
I of the South, so long impregnated with the Arabian
tradition. At first the origin of the worship is set
down to the Gnostics, which name veils sectarians who
followed the knowledge revealed in the Koran. Then
it is ascribed to the Collyridians by the monk of
Cyprus who writes under the name of St. Epiphanius ; ^
and Collyridians is another term of monkish invention
for followers of the Arabian tradition. Again, the
term Nestorians is another veil for the same tradition.
They are said to have maintained that the child of
Mary was not born Divine, just as the Mohammedans
maintain.

Another tedious record of literary forgery here in-
tervenes. Books were ascribed late in the twelfth
or in the thirteenth century to St. John and to St.
Melito, describing the transit of the Blessed Virgin
into heaven. Again, Pope Gelasius is made in the
fifth century to mention an apocryphal, that is, a popular
book on the same subject. The dogma of the Assump-

1 Haer, 89 .

EAELY FORMS OF THE CHRISTIAN LEGEND. 405

tion is also ascribed to Gregory of Tours, to Andrew
of Crete, and to St. John of Damascus, who is supposed
to describe her burial in Gethsemane, and the discovery
of the empty coffin.^ The interpolation in Eusebius’
Chronicle, a. 48, has long been recognised as such.
In the illustrious Doctors, both Greek and Latin, of
the great Catalogue of Jerome and Gennadius, there
are many passages which seem studiously to disparage
Mary as guilty of unbelief, vain-glory, and the like ;
nor can it be denied that she is the object of rebuke
in the canonical Gospels.

The Augustinians, writing probably late in the
thirteenth century, speak of her as under original sin.
The doctrine of Peter Lombard and others is that she
was cleansed from original sin before her birth, like
the Baptist. It is not until the fourteenth century
that Duns Scotus broaches the idea of an Immaculate
Conception. The final triumph of the dogma in our
own times is one of the most remarkable proofs that
after all the Church is not so rigid and immobile in
her opinions as is commonly supposed. Church doctors
stiU launch a theoretical anathema against those who
would render latreia to Mary, but the fine distinction
between this and other kinds of worship can hardly
be appreciated except by the professional theologian.

The Basilians committed themselves firom the be-
ginning to the dogma that Christ was bom of the
Virgin Mary, and their proof is the mistaken passage
in Isaiah, “ Behold, a young woman shall conceive and
bear a son.” As usual, they give emphasis to the
dogma by calling into existence a sect of Ebionites,
who are made to maintain that Christ sprang from
ordinary generation. These things are repeated several
^ Cf. Necephorus Callistus, S'. S, dated 1305*

THE EISE OE CHRISTEHDOK

times in the first Ecclesiastical History, and have created
the intended impression that heretics united with
Catholics in acknowledging a Christ, a St. Joseph, and
a St. Mary. Between that work and the completion of
the Missal there has been a development of the ideal
of the Holy Family, in accordance with the principles
of Church construction.

St. Joseph is prefigured in the “just man ” of Ps. xci.,

„ , who also offers the ideal of the Abbot ; also
se^rioeBo^^ in the fine description of one beloved of God
’ and men in Ecclesiasticus xlv. 1-6. To this
the Gospel for the Feast of St. Joseph corresponds,
Matt. i. 1 8—2 1 . Another Old Testament passage which
has been drawn upon is Genesis xlix. 22-26, where
blessings are invoked on the head of the Patriarch
Joseph, and on the crown of the Nazarite among his
brethren. This is read on the Feast of the Patronage
of St. Joseph ; and the Gospel for the same day, Luke
iii. 21-28, describes Jesus as the beloved Son of God,
but reputed son of Joseph, the spouse of the Holy
Mother.

On the Feasts of the Conception and the Nativity of
Feasts o£ the Blesscd Virgin, a source for her ideal
St. Mary, jg found in the fine description of Sophia or
impersonated wisdom in the book of Proverbs viii.
22-35. The Gospel is the genealogy in Matt. i. 1-16.
On the Feast of the Annunciation, her ideal is sought
in Ps. xliv., also in Isa. vii. 10-15. But the Gospel
narrating the visit of the Angel Gabriel, which points
to the Arabian tradition, is Luke i. 26-38. On the
Feast of the Visitation, the book of Canticles supplies
the poetic lesson, ii. 8-14, and the Gospel is Luke i.
39-47. In the Mass of the Blessed Virgin from
Candlemas, the Feast of her Purification, to Easter, the

EAELY FOEMS OF THE CHEISTIAH LEGEHD. 407

lesson consists of the praise of Sophia, Eccles. xxiv.
14-16, and the Gospel is Luke xi. 27-28, containing
the words, “ Blessed is the womb that bare Thee.”
From Easter to Pentecost the Gospel is John xix-
25-27, containing the words, “Behold thy Son,” “Be-
hold Thy Mother ! ”

In no passage is Mary regarded as the anti-type of
the Miriam of the Old Testament. On the st Joachim.
Feast of St. Joachim, her father, the genea-
logy is read from Matt. i. 1-16. St. Ann is com-
memorated as mother of Mary, as in the Mass for Holy
Women, or as a martyr, not a virgin. The parents of
Mary, for whom no prototypes have been found in
the Old Testament, come from the Arabian tradition.
So also do Zacharias and John Baptist. The story of
the dumbness of the former has been preserved in
Luke i. 5-17, 57-68. The ideal of John has been
taken from Isa. xlix. and Jer. i. 4-10. Elizabeth is
traced to the priestly stock of Aaron.

It is a very curious circumstance that the Gospel
referring to Martha and Mary (the contrast in personal
forms of the active and the contemplative life), is read
not only on the Commemoration of St. Martha, virgin,
but also on the Feast of the Assumption. Here it is
the Blessed Virgin who chooses the good part which
shall not be taken from her.

The Order of Mount Carmel appears to have been
instituted at nearly the same time with the The Oarme-
Franciscans and the Dominicans. They are
honoured with the particular patronage of the Blessed
Virgin ; and it is probable that the propagation of the
cult from the thirteenth century was in great part due
to the exertions of that Order. A Day of Solemn Com-
memoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount

4o8

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

Carmel is recognised in the Service Book. It is
another illustration of the manner in which the four
great Orders of friai's, the Franciscans, the Dominicans,
the Augustinians, and the Carmelites, entered into the
labours of the two primitive Orders, and largely con-
tributed to enrich the great treasury of Church ideals.

The popular love towards the Holy Family — Jesus,
Mary, Joseph — ^is one of the chief features of Catholic
religion. But few are aware that, -with the exception
in one respect of Joseph, the original of the Holy
Family may be found in the Surah of the Koran,
which recites the Divine Word concerning the family
of Imram.

The bh’thplace of Christ is discovered in the prophet
Birthplace Micah V. 2. The Mages from the East in-
of Christ. quired of Herod where the infant King of
the Jews was, because they had seen His star in the
East, and had made the journey in their zeal to worship
Him as a God. Herod, thinking his rule endangered,
was greatly moved ; and having ascertained that
Bethlehem was the predicted birthplace, issued an
order that boys at the breast in Bethlehem and all its
mountains, from two years and downwards — according
to the precise time stated by the Mages — should be
destroyed, thinking certainly that Jesus would share
the fate of his equals. The Boy, however, anticipated
the snare, and was conveyed to Egypt, owing to the
epiphany of an angel who had informed His parents
of what was to happen.

The historian refers from this narrative to “the
sacred writing of the Evangel.” But had the canonical
Gospel been in the hands of his readers, his narrative
would have been unnecessary, which does not depend
on the canonical Gospel. The origin of the Magi is to

EAELY FOEMS OF THE CHEISTIAE LEGEED. 409

be found, again, in the Old Testament. The Basilian
who writes under the name of Justin Martyr gives a
variant of the tale, and points to the passage in the
prophet, “Before the Boy shall have knowledge to
any father or mother. He shall receive the power of
Damascus and spoils of Samaria.” This was fulfilled,
he says, in “ our Christ.” The Mages are frequently
called the Mages from Arabia.^ The monk Malelas
speaks of them as coming from Persia to bring gifts
to Christ as to a great king and conqueror. In
mediaeval geography, Arabia and Persia are con-
founded, and in the fourteenth century Mohammed
is still spoken of as a rich Persian. There are other
variations.

All these details are understood when they are read
in the light of the Feasts of the Nativity and of the
Holy Innocents on the 28th of December, and ai’e
compared with the passages in Esaias, cc. ix., lx.
The delight which the chronographers find in por-
traying the sufferings of Herod, in their Josephus and
elsewhere, is delight in inflicting vengeance on the perse-
cutor of the infant Church in the person of its Head.

The place Nazaret is also discovered in the prophet,®
who is assumed to say, “ Nazaraeus He shall n-ajiaret and
be called.” It is almost needless to observe
that the Hebrew of the text has been grossly mis-
understood. It means, He shall be called Shoot, Branch
{Nezar). This is converted into an epithet of Christ,
Nazanrssus, and a place is then called into being to
correspond with the epithet.® The history of the word,

1 Dial Ixxvii. ; cf. TertiilL, Adv, Marc. iii. 13, Adv, JW, c. ix.

2 Isa. xi. I.

2 Cf. Matt ii. 23. But tlie Gospel for the Last Vigil of the Epiphany,
Matt ii. 19-23, has, Ee ^all le called a Nassarite,

THE EISE OE CHEISTEHDOM.

4to

and of the imaginative edifice built upon it, is sufficient
to illustrate the mystical method by which the whole
canonical narrative was constructed.

An important, though uncanonical legend of the
Augustus and i^onks of St. Basil — to be found in the
the Pythia. C]ironicle of Eusebius, in Malelas, Cedrenus,
and Nicephorus Callistus — is that of Augustus, who
made a hecatomb and consulted the Pythian Oracle
in the fifty-fifth year of his reign. “ Who, after me,
shall rule over the Roman state ? ” There was given
him no answer from the Pythia. Again he made a
sacrifice, and inquired of the Pythia why the Oracle
was silent. And this answer was at last given him :
“A Hebrew Boy, the Ruler of Olympus, bids me
depart from this abode, and return to Hades. Go,
then, and visit our altar no more.”

Uali ’E^palo'i xeKeral /le 0eo? futicdpeaffiv avdcrffcov,

TovBe Bdptov TTpokiireiv, /cat atBof avdi<s Ixeadai

Kat XoiTTov avidc Ik irpop-wv rjfierepcov.

Then Augustus, departing from the Oracle, went to
the Capitol, built there a great altar and lofty, on which
he wrote in Roman letters. This altar is of the First-
hegotten of God. And this altar is on the Capitol unto
this day, as the wise Timotheus narrated.

The Franciscans were not to be found on the
Capitol until about 1250; and certainly it could not
have been long before their time that this legend was
first published.

The Gospel of the Infancy is important, as throwing
Gospel of light upon ideas that became current during
the Infancy. thirteenth century in the Church. They
have been derived by the Benedictines and Basilians

EAELT F 0 EM 8 OF THE CHEISTIAN LEGEXD. 411

from the Mohammedans, in common with other matters
of so-called apocryphal, i.e., prse-canonical books.

Here Jesus addresses His mother from the cradle,
and declares that He is the Word of God, according
to the Annunciation by Gabriel, and sent for the
salvation of the world. Joseph and Mary come to
Bethlehem, and the Child is bom in a cave, which is
filled with the splendour of light. A Hebrew midwife
lays her hands on the Child, and is cured of disease.
Shepherds come, and there is an apparition of the
heavenly host, who render praises to God. On the
eighth day the Child is circumcised, and the Hebrew
midwife preserves a memorial of the event in an
alabaster box, of which Mary the sinner later became
possessed, and used for the anointing of our Lord.

The incident of the appearance in the Temple on
the fortieth day is told much as in the canonical
Gospel.

The Mages are said to come to Jerusalem in accord
with a prophecy of Zoroaster. Herod hears the tid-
ings, and Joseph and Mary take the Child to Egypt.
Their arrival produces great consternation among the
priests, and an idol announces to them that an un-
known and true God has come hither, and falls in the
same hour. Demons come forth from the mouth of the
priest’s son in the form of birds and serpents. So
the prophecy, Out of Egypt I have called My Son,
was fulfilled.

A number of romantic tales follow. A dumb bride
recovers her speech as she kisses the Lord in the arms
of Mary. A woman afflicted with an incubus (Satan
in form of a serpent) is in like manner delivered. A
leprous girl is cleansed by washing in water which
1 See the service for July 22, ia the Missal.

412

THE EISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

had been used for the bath of Jesus, and the leprous
son of a great lady, who exclaims, Blessed is the
mother who begat Thee, O Jesus ! A young man, who
has been turned into a mule by evil arts, recovers his
form when Jesus is placed upon his back.

The Holy Family come in a desert place upon a
band of thieves. One of them, Titus, begs his
comrade Dumachus to let them go. Dumachus
refuses. St. Mary promises that Titus shall be re-
ceived to the right hand of God, and Jesus prophesies
to St. Mary that in thirty years’ time the two thieves
shall be crucified with him, and Titus shall precede
Him into Paradise. She replies, “ God forbid, my
son ! ”

On the return to Bethlehem, similar miracles are
again wrought in the cave. Judas Iscariot, possessed
by Satan, strikes the side of Jesus, but in the same
hour Satan comes forth from him in the form of a
mad dog. Where Judas (the personification of the
Jews) struck Him, the Jews later pierced Him with
a lance. The boy Jesus makes birds of clay and ani-
mates them. Passing by a dyer’s shop, whose name
was Salem, He enters and casts the clothes into the
vat. The dyer on his return complains to Jesus, but
the clothes are brought out, each with the desired
colour. The story points to the Moslem legend of Isa,
son of Mariam, as patron of dyers, Kessseus (Abu-
Mohammed Abd-AUah), in H. Sike, Evang. Infantim,
1697, notes, p. 55-

Other fables follow which will be found again in
the works of the Basilians ascribed to Justin Martyr,
St. Basil, St. Chrysostom. Jesus did carpenter’s work
along with St. Joseph. He works a miracle by which
He shows Himself prototypically the Good Shepherd

EARLY rOEilS OF THE CHRISTIAN LEGEND. 413

of Israel. He learns Hebrew letters of Zacchaeus, who
so wonders at His knowledge, he thinks He must have
been born before Noah. Another master struck Him ;
his hand withered, and he died. He is found in the
Temple among the Doctors, teaching them literature,
science, physics and metaphysics, hyperphysics and
hypophysics. Comparison shows what a process of
refinement our canonical narratives of the Infancy
have undergone.

We come to the twelfth year of Tiberius’s reign,
when Pilate is said to be appointed Praeses Time of
of Syria, or Epitropos, Procurator of Judsea.

Eusebius declaims against certain forged “ Memorabilia
against our Saviour,” because they have falsely set down
the date of the Passion in the seventh year of Tiberius’s
reign.^ This is but a figurative way of making a cor-
rection. No Memorabilia, no Acts of Pilate, have
ever been discovered. It is also observable that he
passes over the Circumcision, Fasting, and Temptation,
and proceeds to the Baptism, which is fixed in the
fifteenth year of Tiberius, and the fourth of the Hege-
mony of Pontius Pilate, when Herod and Lysanias and
Philip were Tetrarchs of the rest of Judsea.®

Eusebius, relying on his monk Josephus, calculates
that the whole time of the teaching was not four whole
years, since four high-priests in four years, from Annas
to the appointment of Caiaphas, discharged each a year’s
ministry. Caiaphas was probably high-priest in the
year of the Passion. Again he shows that he has
naught but the bare scheme of the canonical narra-
tives before his mind.

He further has the theory of twelve Apostles by

^ JGT. X i. 9.

2 i. 10 ; cf. tlie much, fuller and later canonical account in Luke iii. i.

414

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

eminence, and of otlier seventy sent two and two before
tbe face of Christ into every place and city whither He
was to come. But he falters when he attempts to
produce a list of their names. Hor has a list of the
Apostles, simple and unconfused, ever been produced
to this day.

He calls in his Josephus to confirm the tradition

, ^ . that John the Baptist was beheaded by the

John Baptist. _

younger Herod. The passage in Josephus is
wretchedly written, and describes in a rambling manner
the iaptismus or haptisis of John and its nature.^ It
is needless to say more about the Josephus passage on
Jesus, except that it proceeds from the Basilian forge,
and has been flourished in the face of the world as
historic evidence by a long series of Basilians and
Benedictines. The student may trace in it the same
style that appears in other notorious forgeries.®

The Feasts of the Nativity and the Beheading of St.
John the Baptist show that his ideal has been derived
from Jeremiah i., and from Isaiah xlix., though ulti-
mately he is traceable to the Yahia in the Arabian
tradition of the family of Imram.

Eusebius passes over the Passion without the
Jesus and slightest effort at details, such as we find in
Abgaius. canonical narratives. On the other hand,

he occupies himself at length with the elaborate fable
of the interchange of letters between Abgarus, king of
Edessa, and Jesus, and the 'mission of Thaddseus, said
to be one of the seventy, to Abgarus. Embedded, how-
ever, in this long story, is the Credo of the Church.
Abgarus is reported to have said to Thaddseus — “ Kelate

1 Antt,^ xviii. 5. 2,

2 Antt xviii. 33 ; cf. Eas., jET. E. iii. 33, JD. E, iii. 5, Hieron, Ee Vvr, III.
xiii., and many others collected in WMston.

EAELT FORMS OF THE CHRISTIAN LEGEHD. 415

to me concerning the coming of Jesus, how it came
to pass, and concerning His power, and in what power
He did the things which I have heard of.” And Thad-
deeus : “Now I will be content,” he said, “since to
preach the Word I was sent. But to-morrow assemble
me all thy citizens, and in their presence I will preach
and scatter among them the Word of Life, concerning
the coming of Jesus, as it came to pass, and concerning
His mission, and for what cause He was sent by the
Father, and concerning the power of His works, and
mysteries of which He spake in the world, and with
what power He did these things, and concerning His
new preaching, and concerning His littleness and
humiliation, and how He humbled Himself and died,
and belittled His Godhead, and was crucified, and de-
scended into Hades, and split asunder the barrier from
eternity not split, and brought up the dead ; for, de-
scending alone. He raised up many, then went up fo
His Father.” ‘ ‘ And Abgarus commanded on the morrow
his citizens to gather together to hear the preaching of
Thaddseus, and after these things he ordered gold and
silver to be given him. But he would not receive it,
saying, If we have left our own things, how shall we
receive the things of others ? These things were done
in the 340th year, which, usefully for reading from the
S3rrian translated, may here seasonably lie.”

Between the baldness of Eusebius and the elabora-
tion of the canonical accounts of the Passion,
a considerable interval must lie, which is
partly filled up by recitals to be found in all the
leading Greek and Latin writers of the Catalogue of
Jerome and Gennadius, commonly called the Fathers.
These recitals are all based on the Credo, but not on
the New Testament. There are variations in them;

4i6

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

they show inequality of style ; they are all representa-,
tions of what may be called the Ecclesiastical Epic of
Eedemption, and they prepare the way for more chaste
and finished canonical narratives.

It is observable that, in many of the Basilians, Pilate
is styled the Hegemon or Praeses of Syria, rather than
the Epitropos or Procurator of Judaea. A name is
also given to his wife, Procla, who warns him, “Let
there be naught between thee and this just man, for
many things I suffered to-day in a dream because of
Him.”

It stands fast, and is beyond all contradiction, that
The Passion, the Passion is in Church teaching a dogma,
a Dogma. ^ mystery, or sacrament, the evidence of
which lies solely in the sentiment of the believ-
ing mind which is taught to discover the dogma in
the pages of Psalmists and Prophets. It is nowhere
aMght but a theological necessity. And when the
orthodox ascribe to the heretics the opinion that the
Passion was an ecclesiastical dream, they complete the
proof against themselves by calling forth a voluminous
echo from the Doctors of the Mosque and the Synagogue.
A few illustrations may be given.

It behoved Jesus to preach for one year only, in
accord with Isa. Ixi. i. Some say that He suffered in
the sixteenth year of Tiberius, on the 25th Phamenoth,
or the 25th Pharmuthi, or the 19th of the same month. ^
The same writer finds the Passion foretold in the
Repuhlic of Plato. Another adduces a great mass* of
proof firom the Prophets in support of the legend. He
finds Judas and the conspiracy against Christ in the
Psalms, in Zechariah, and in Jeremiah, who is said to

Clem. A lex ., Strom. L 21 ; cf. Cotelenvs, Constt. App. v. 13, on these

discrepancies.

EARLY FORMS OF THE CHRISTIAN LEGEYD.

417

name Him as Judah, xvii. 1-4. In Amos is found the
eclipse at the PassionJ Another insists with emphasis
on the verity of the Bu-th and Passion; and pas-
sionately points to Golgothas in proof, declaring that
the whole world has been filled with fragments of the
wood of the Cross. Christ was judged at night, when
it was cold and a fire of coals had been laid, as we
read in Zechariah, who speaks of a day that was
neither day nor night (xiv. 7), and in Amos, who
speaks of the sun going down at noon. Another
certain proof of the Passion is the partition of the
coat, and the casting of lots for the tunic, in Ps. xxii.,
and the red garments of one coming horn Bosor, Isa.
Ixiii. I, 2. Golgotha is the centre of the earth, Ps.
Ixxiii. 1 2 ; thence Christ spreads out His hands to grasp
the world, Isa. Ixv. 2. The wine mixed with myrrh is
found in Ps. Ixix. 21, the thieves are reproduced from
Isa. liii. 12, the mockers from Ps. cviii. 25.*®

The Gregories declaim against the Oriental heretics
in like manner who assert the phantasmal nature of
the Birth and Passion. Chrysostom is haunted by
Marcion and the Gnostics. He argues on the sign of
Jonah, that this figure was brought forward that the
truth might be believed. If Jonah in the whale’s belly
was not a phantasy, neither was it phantasy that
Christ was three days in the heart of the earth. The
Marcionites were children of the devil, because they
consider the Cross and Passion phantasies.® The same
writer labours to show that Christ confessed to Pilate
that He was a celestial King of a kingdom not of this
world. His taciturnity before Pilate was in accord

1 Euseb. B. S. lib. iv., 6, 10

* Cyril of Jerns. Oatet^ xiii., 24, 25, &o.

3 Horn. 43 (44).

41 8 THE RISE OE CHEISTENHOM.

with. Isa. Iviii. 8.^ The orator, preaching on the
Vesper of the Pascha, declaims, with studied maleyo-
lence, against the Jews who preferred Barabbas to the
Saviour of the world ; he would lash his audience into
fury against them. Then he turns his invective against
the audience themselves, whom he denounces as filthy
in their vices, and in their language to one another in
church. It is a most repulsive scene from the Dark
Ages and the tmhulent formation of a new world.
There is no sweet reasonableness here. Against the
dark background, filled with Oriental deniers of the
dogma, St. Peter stands out gloriously as the champion
of consubstantiality, and the monks are the true
philosophers, who lead the life that is obnoxious to
no decay.^

The Latins are quite equal in audacity to their
Grreek brethren. It is saddening to observe that under
the name TertuUian some writing of a man of genius
is to be found who has prostituted his gifts to the
service of the most unprincipled sophistry. He seeks
for and finds the Nativity and Passion in the book of
Daniel, c. ix. The Passion was consummated in the time
of the seventieth Hebdomad, at the Feast of the Pascha,
on the first day of unleavened bread, when they slew
the Lamb at evening. The Synagogue slew Him with
maledictions, that they might fulfil the prophecies.
He asserts that the Sacrament of the Passion must be
figured in predictions. The incredible must be fully
foretold, otherwise great would be the scandal. The
magnificent event is shrouded in the obscure, that the
intellect in its difficulty may seek for the grace of
God.® He puts into the mouth of his imaginary

1 Horn. 86 (87) and 87 (88). 2

® Tert., Ad Nationes.

EARLY EORilS OF THE CHRISTIAN LEGEND. 419

Marcion the statement that in the fifteenth year of
Tiberius Christ descended to a town of Galilee,
Caphamaum, from the heaven of the Creator. The
object is to represent the Orientals as bearing witness
in another manner to the Church legend. He dis-
covers, with his brethren, the old Roman Cross, symbol
of power and victory, in the Old Testament.^ This
was the sign made on the door-posts in the blood of
the Pascha; this was the unicorn in the blessing of
Joseph, the stake on which the healing serpent was
raised. He is none the less assured that the Cross
belongs to the victorise and trophies of the Romans.

He speaks of Pilate as Procurator of Syria, asserts
that the Jews bore away the body of Christ to the
sepulchre, and sat around with a guard of soldiers.®
He refers to pretended arcana or archives of the
Romans. He thinks of Galilee as part of Judsea. He
deduces the details of the Passion from Ps. ii., from
Hosea x. 6, from Isa. liii. 7, 1 . 4, from Ps. xxii. 10, 16.
The whole event, indeed, is in that psalm. The veil
of the Temple is rent by the breaking forth of the
angel who deserts the daughter of Zion, Ezek. xi. 23.
The writer of Ps. xxxi. 6, labours to render Christ
himself. It is passionately insisted on that only flesh
could be said to expire. Joseph of Arimathsea knew
this ; he was the “blessed man” of Ps. i. In Hosea v.
15, vi. I, is to be found an allusion to the women who
went early to the tomb. The body was missing, accord-
ing to Isa. Ivii. 2, and in the same prophet are to be
found the women who look on, xxvii. ii, LXX. It
is shown why the disciples are rebuked for supposing
they saw a ghost after the Resurrection, Lc. xxiv. 37 - 39 *
They were tempted to the Marcionite heresy.

1 Aim. Jvd. 10 ; Adv. Marc, iii 18. ’ Apol. xxi.

420

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

The texts ascribed to St. Cyprian were probably
written at a time when there was a cloister at Carthage
in the thirteenth century. They contain the same
dogmatic theory, attacking the Jews.’- Pilate is again
said to be Procurator of Syria. The Credo is set forth
with beauty and eloquence of language, as a poem of
the Church, and it is shown that the noble army of
martyrs is a necessity, as witnesses and imitators of
Christ. In an elaborate Christology, the writer once
more shows from the prophets that the Jews were
bound to fix Christ to the Cross, that in the Passion
and the sign of the Cross is all virtue and power, and
salvation for them that are marked with the sign on
the brow, and so on.^

The excellent stylist, who writes under the name of
Lactantius, not earher than the fourteenth century, fol-
lows the same method. He draws upon the second
chapter of the Wisdom of Solomon in his account of
the Passion. He speaks of Pontius Pilate as Legate
of Syria.® He refers to Kings and Chronicles even
for proofs of the Passion. Yet he is uneasy in the
consciousness that the dogma of the assumption by
God of a natal and suffering body is felt to be incon-
venient and um'easonable. He meets the objection
by an d priori theological argument.

These illustrations will enable the reader to under-
stand how absolutely certain it is that the New Testa-
ment was constructed on the sole basis of dogmatic
theory and poetry. The dictum of the monk who
writes under the name of St. Jerome is unexceptionably
confirmed : —

“Whatsoever we read in the Old Testament, we

^ J)& Idol, Van. xiii, * Testimon, ii. 20.

® Epit, ad Pentad, xlv.

EARLY FORMS OF THE CHRISTIAY LEGEND. 421

find again in the Gospel; and "what has become a
lection in the Gospel is deduced from the authority
of the Old Testament; there is nothing dissonant,
nothing diverse in them.” ^

The Augustinian of the fourteenth or fifteenth cen-
tury, who writes the romantic Confessions, says that he
had been a Manichaean, and that their saints and elect
had told the Catholics in private that the New Testament
Scriptures had been forged by some writers unknown,
who desired to insert the law of the Jews in the Chris-
tian faith.® The object of this confession must be
to represent that the heretics did acknowledge some
form of the legend, as in the similar declaration about
Marcion and the Gnostics. Eemove the Manichsean
veil, and the Arabian or Persian critics of the Church
stand revealed. The great prominence given to
Paustus, the eloquent, pious, and dangerous Manichee,
is due to the same motive ; the historic precursors of the
Church became in dogmatic thought dissenters from it.

This able rhetorician is clearly aware of the artificial
nature of the legend. He says, “If these writings
had been false, all things would be exposed to the risk
of falsehood. . . . Because the writings were true, I
acknowledge the whole man in Christ, not the body
only, or a spirit with body without mind, but very
man.” He explains also why the Church delights in
calling up swarms of heretics from the silence. It is
that the sentiment of the Church and the dogma may
be made to stand out in relief. It behoved that there
should be heresies, that the approved might be made
manifest among the weak.

The author of the De Civitate Dei betrays the same
consciousness of a public who looked upon the works
1 ad JDamaa. on Isa. vi * Confess, v. ii.

422

THE RISE OE CHEISTEHDOM.

of the monks and friars as fictions. He says that the
dispersion of the Jews is described in the Prophets,
and that if Catholic writers had contained such things,
they might have been thought forged.^ Apparently
aware that they have no character for veracity to lose,
he indulges himself in the wildest fables about the
Goths, and about the bones of St. Stephen, and other
matters. The work is an elaborate attack on reason
and the common-sense perceptions of the world. It is
intimately connected with the rise of the Papacy and
of the Pauline theology.

His theory of the Passion is that Christ as High-
priest offered Himself in the Passion for us, that we
might be the body of so great a Head. He is Mediator,
Priest, and Sacrifice. This is the sacrifice of the Chris-
tians : many, one body in Christ. The Church offers
herself in the oblation she presents.® A great develop-
ment of the dogma is here observable, correspondent
to the development in the ritual of the Mass. The
writer does not rely on the canonical Scriptures in his
argument ; he refers to them as if quite recent, as of
eminent authority, in which we have faith concerning
those things which it is not expedient we should ignore,
nor by otu’selves are fit to know.®

Those who are content to live in the world of dogma,
and to defy the teaching of fact, may take delight in
this work. But it is impossible for those who know
and prize the facts to peruse it without strong feelings
of repugnance. Here is a man who calmly transplants
himself into the beginning of the fifth century, and
makes free with the name and the verses of Claudian
for Church purposes. He concocts a wonderful fable,
according to which the Church ought to have come to

1 C. D. iv. 34. “ X. 6. » ix. 3.

EAELT POEMS OF THE CHRISTIAN LEGE^'D. 423

an end in the year 399, knowing, as he does, that the
Church had not then been heal'd of. Between Clandian
and this Augustinian there has passed not merely an
interval of many centuries, there has been a great
lapse and fall of the virtue of mankind.

So well he knows the temper of the time, or so con-
scious is he of the power at his back, he offers the
incredible for belief with the most cynical effrontery.
Yet we wrong the old Cynics by employing that adjec-
tive. He speaks of the ignorant fishermen whom
Christ sent with the nets of faith to the sea of this
world, so few in number, and who took so many fishes
out of the whole race. He declares that the incredible
has come .to pass. The Resurrection and Ascension
are incredible ; the belief of the world in a thing so
incredible is incredible; and incredible is it that ig-
noble, lowly, and ignorant men should have persuaded
the world effectually of a thing so incredible.^ He
discloses the secret of the offensive operations of the
Church against human reason, when he says that testi-
monies of many incredible things are heaped together
in order that one incredible thing — the resurrection in
the flesh — ^may be believed. So are the obstinately
incredulous bent to belief.

The strange was made familiar, the marvellous com-
mon, the unwonted customary to the fancy of the people,
until taste and relish for the fact was corrupted and
spoiled,, and the spread of science became impossible.
This monk does not himself believe in the dogma ; he
delights in it as the flag of a great conquering host,
he glories in the Cross as the adopted symbol of the
prevailing City and Church of God, the Christian
Empire which sees the world at its feet. He has

1 ( 7 . D, xxii. 5.

424

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

entered into the labours of the Basilians and Benedic-
tines, and rears his imposing structure on then foun-
dations. But now to return to the Basilians.

In Suidas’ Lexicon we read of Dionysius the Areo-
pagite, that he was a hearer of Paul, by him
brought to Christianism, and made Bishop of
Passion. _^thens. He was at Heliopolis at the time of
the Passion, and saw the moon falling on the sun, though
it was not the time of the solar and lunar conjunction ;
and again, the same opposed, contrary to nature, to the
diameter of the sun from the sixth hour till evening.
Christ, the Author of aU created things, alone could
cause this marvel. Dionysius is said to have ■written
these things in an epistle to Polycarp ; and a fulsome
eulogy is passed on the learning and genius of Dionysius.
It is pretended that he was put to death at the same time
with Ignatius, the God-bearer, in the reign of Trajan.

The tale of Beronice, Bernice, or Veronica, is also
anterior to the canonical narrative of the

GTOUlCSi*

woman with the issue of blood. She is of
Paneas, where Herod H. dwelt. She desires to erect
a statue in honour of Jesus, because she had been
cured by Him. But she dared not do this without the
king’s permission, so she presented a supplication to
that effect, the contents of which are given at length.
Herod is here addressed as August, Toparch, Legislator
both of Jews and Greeks, King of the land of Tracho-
nitis. He gives permission, and the statue, made of
bronze, with an admixture of gold and silver, is erected.
It may be still seen, say the monks, in an Oratory at
Paneas, in the house of one Bassus, a Christian,
formerly a Jew.^

^ See tlie literature ou this subject in Gregorovius, Gesch. d. Stadt Bom
ii. 189.

EAELY FORMS OF THE CHRISTIAN LEGEND. 425

In Suidas, again, is to be found tbe elaborate fable,
of which mention has already been made, The Election
concerning the enrolment of Jesus in the oh?sttothe
Jewish priesthood. Philip, a Christian silver- Priesthood,
smith in the reign of Justinian, seeks to persuade
Theodosius, chief of the Jews, to his faith. Theodosius
confesses that he believes in the advent of Him fore-
told by Law and Prophets, but that human reasons
stand in the way of his becoming a Christian. Were
he to become Patriarch of the Catholic Church, he
doubts whether he should enjoy greater observance
and respect than that which now falls to his lot. He
then confides to his friend a literary and secret mystery
of the Hebrews.

There are twenty-two letters in the language, twenty-
two inspired books, and there were in ancient times
twenty-two priests in the Temple. A book was then
laid up, containing their names and those of their
parents. When one died the rest met, and chose
another in his room. A priest died at the time J esus
was in Judaea, and before He had made Himself known.
After many nominations had been rejected, a priest
proposed the name of Jesus, son of Joseph the car-
penter, with a high eulogy on His character. Some
objected that He was not of the tribe of Levi, but of
the tribe of Judah; but the priest answered that the
two tribes had formerly been intermixed. Hence
sprang the stock of Joseph. It was finally resolved
that Jesus should be elected to the place of the defunct
priest.

On inquiring for the parents, it was found that Joseph
was dead, and that the mother only was living. Mary
was called to the Council, and confessed that Jesus
was her son, and that He had no father upon earth.

426

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

She then narrated the Annunciation. The midwives
were sent for, and her report confirmed. The priests
then entered in their book that the Priest Jesus, Son
of the living God and of Mary the Virgin, had been
elected in place of the defunct. The book, at the time
when the city and Temple were taken, was preserved
and laid up at Tiberias, and the mystery was known
to very few.

The Christian proposes to inform the faithful Emperor
Justinian, and to have the book fetched from Tiberias.
But, in deference to the timid remonstrances of the
Jew, he desists from the project. The story ends with
a reference to the unfailing Josephus and Eusebius
Pamphili. It is pretended that Josephus, in his
Memoirs of the Captivity, says plainly that Jesus per-
formed sacred rites in the Temple along with the
priests. The scene in St. Luke’s Gospel, where Jesus
enters the synagogue at Capernaum, and reads out of
the prophet Esaias, is also referred to in proof of the
statement. Had not Jesus, says the monk, held some
sacerdotal office among the Jews, a book would not
have been given to Him to read in the sjruagogue.
Eor among Christians, laics have not the like per-
mission, unless they have been co-optated into the
clerics.

The Basilian maintains that he has showm from
Josephus and from Luke that Theodosius the Jew
did not forge the above story. It is of importance, as
showing the manner in which the passage in Luke
was written as protot5rpical of priestly functions. It
must have been penned at some time during a late
century, when the Kabbinical school at Tiberias was
known. It may be mentioned by the way, in regard
to Josephus, the oft-quoted “Jew and lover of truth,”

EAELT FORMS OF THE CHRISTIAN LEGEND. 427

that a comparison of Photius’ and Suidas’ Catalogues
seems to show that the mass of fiction under his name
was slowly compiled, and catalogued before it was fully
complete. In Suidas we read that he wrote the Anti-
quities, from the beginning of the world to the four-
teenth year of Domitian. This is repeated in Jerome’s
Catalogue. But the work actually extends only to the
twelfth year of Nero. The great object in this work
was to create antiquity for the Jewish people, as
ancestors of the Christians, and to give currency to the
fictions concerning Jesus, the Baptist, St. James, which
are cited again and again ad nauseam.

The student may be left further to explore for him-
self the monkish curiosities in Suidas, which bring
before him the time when both the Old and the New
Testaments are writings that have the charm of novelty
for the world of the cloister, on the eve of the opening
of the Universities.

The Basilians say that the fame of the Eesurrection
and Ascension was noised abroad, and that TiberiMcon-
Pontius Pilate transmitted a report to Tiberius senate’^on
of the circumstances, declaring that Christ
was believed to be a God by the mass of the Christ,
people. That Tiberius referred the matter to the Senate,
who rejected the report because they had not first
examined the question — the old law being in force
that none should be deified among the Eomans except
by the vote and dogma of the Senate. The Eoman
jurist Tertullian, destined to give a name to a doctor
of the Church, is cited in support of this audacious
fable. It is made out that Tiberius was a convert to
the dogma and a friend of the Christians.^

The next reign is decorated with various fables, and
1 Eus., H. E, ii. 2.

428

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

especially with the story of the embassy of Philo to
Eome on behalf of the Jews. The monks
Caligula. quote their own forgeries under the names
of Josephus and Philo as evidence.

The reign of Claudius is again epochal in Church

legend. In the beginning of it Evodius is

Reign of • i

Claudius. said to have succeeded St. Peter in the
Na^e Chris- Bishopric of Antioch ; and under him they
who had been called Nazareei and Galilsei

were now called Christiani. The canonical Acts of the
Apostles, however, date the rise of the name in the
time of Peter.

The monks of St. Basil pretend that the fatal times
for the Jews began in the eighteenth year after the
Ascension, when a voice was heard from the Holy of
Holies on the Day of Pentecost, Let us depart hence.
They cite their Josephus, but do not preserve a con-
sensus of dates. They cite their Philo in evidence of
the existence of the ascetic Therapeutee in Egypt, as
precursors of the monks.

The Basilians say that, when Nero began to reign,
Eeignof iie inquired concerning Jesus, of whom he
had heard that He was a great philosopher
and a worker of wonders. Not knowing that He had
been crucified, he desired that He should be brought
to Rome, that he might question Him, Nero himself
being an Epicurean. But when Nero learned that
Jesus had been crucified by the Jews in their hatred,
though He had done no wrong, he was moved with
anger, and sent Maximus into Judaea, and ordered
Annas, Caiaphas, and Pontius Pilate to be brought to
Eome. The party of Annas and Caiaphas made many
charges against Pilate, but admitted that Jesus had
been given up to the laws. They managed their

EAELY FOEMS OF THE CHEISTIAH LEGEND. 429

affairs prosperously by means of bribery, and so de-
parted.

The arrival of St. Paul at Athens during this reign
was remarkable for his encounter with Dio- gt. paia at
nysius the Areopagite philosopher, in whom
the Basilians take so great delight. When St. Paul
addresses him, Dionysius replies, “What God dost
thou preach, babbler?” But having listened to his
teaching, Dionysius fell at his feet and begged that
he might be illuminated, i.e., baptized, and become a
Christian. St. Paul baptized him, and made him
Bishop of that region.

The Basilians differ among themselves as to whether
Simon Magus (and Simon Peter) came to
Rome in the reign of Claudius or of Nero. Simons at

o Iloni6

They say that he pretended to be Christ, true
in this to the method of representing that all heretics
recognise and counterfeit the Catholic dogma. Simon
Magus kept a huge shepherd’s dog before his lodging
in Rome, bound by a chain, which would not suffer any
to enter, except at a sign from Simon. But Peter, on
arriving, loosed the chain, and bade the dog go in to
Simon and announce in a human voice that Peter,
the servant of the most high God, desired to come in.
The dog delivers the message, and Simon Magus, not
to be outdone by his rival, bids the dog in turn deliver
an invitation to Peter in a human voice. Peter enters,
works miracles, in aU surpassing the Mage.

A tumult in the city follows, and the matter is
reported by the Prsefect Agrippa to Nero. The Emperor
causes the two Simons to be brought before him, also
Pontius Pilate to be brought from prison. And Nero
said to Simon, “Art thou he whom men call Christ?”
He answered, “Yea.” Then Nero asked Peter, “Is

430

THE EISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

he indeed the Christ?” And Peter answered, “He
is not, for I am of Christ’s disciples, and with these
eyes I saw Him taken up into heaven.” Then Nero
questioned Pilate, and said, “Is this he whom thou
gavest up to he crucified 1 ” Pilate, fixing his eyes on
him, said, “It is not he; for this man is long-haired
and obese.” And concerning Peter he asked him,
“ Dost thou recognise this man as a disciple of Christ ? ”
And he answered, “Yea, for I brought him into the
Prsetorium as Christ’s disciple, and when he denied
this I dismissed him.” Then Nero ordered both Simon
and Peter to be cast out of the palace ; Simon because
he falsely declared himself to be Christ, and Peter
•because he had been convicted by Pilate of having
denied Christ.

Contests followed between the two Simons in the
working of miracles. A great bull was brought out.
Simon Magus whispered into its ear, and the bull died.
But Peter after prayer recalled the bull to hfe. And
all praised Peter, saying, “To make the dead to live
is the greater miracle.” They wrought many other
signs in the presence of one another, which are written,
says Joannes Malelas, in the Acts of the Holy Apostles.
He means the Acts which were put forward in the
name of St. Clement, who, in the Photian Library, is
said to have been second Bishop of Eome after Peter ;
in the Catalogue of Jerome, the fourth.^ Clement is,
in fact, a more important name in early Church
literature than Peter or Paul. To him are ascribed
Canons of Synods, under the name of Apostolic Consti-
tutions, the Acts of Peter and his Dispute with Simon
Magus, and the Eecognitions.

But the Apostle Peter slew his antagonist, who was

^ Cod. 112, Be Yir. Ill, 15 .

EARLY FORMS OF THE CHRISTIAN LEGEND. 431

minded to ascend to heaven, by prayer. For Simon
Magus said to Peter, “ Thou didst say that Christ thy
God was taken up. Lo ! I also will be taken up.”
And Peter saw him rising, lightened by magic art,
into the air, in the midst of the city of Rome. And
Peter prayed, and Simon Magus was home down from
the air to the earth upon the street, and was dashed
to pieces. His remains lie there to this day where
they fell, surrounded by a stone chancel. The place
from that day has been called the Simonium.

A considerable interval evidently has elapsed be-
tween the barbarous writings of Eusebius or
Malelas and the dignified canonical account S°sh^ony“
of the conflict of St. Peter with Simon Magus
in the Acts of the Apostles. The father of
the sin of simony is overthrown in his seat, Samaria,
and is brought to repentance, without being suffered
to come to Rome at all. It is in the light of writings
ascribed to St. Peter Damiani, Glaber Rudolfus, and
dated in the eleventh century, though really composed
at a later time, that the canonical legend can he
thoroughly understood. It is the monks who from the
first complain that this disease of Simony has spread
through the Church, so that ecclesiastical offices are as
venal as merchandise in the market. The fact is one
of the strong incidental proofs that the Church de-
pended from the first on the patronage of the wealthy,
and was made an instrument of temporal ambition.

When Nero heard that Simon Magus had been slain,
he was moved with wrath, and ordered that Peter
should be seized and slain. When St. Peter was seized,
he handed over the episcopal robes to Lenus or Linus,
his disciple, who had followed him. A description of
Peter’s personal appearance is given, which, with similar

432

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

descriptions, suggests that the time is in the dawn of
Church pictorial art. His character, on which the
canonical representations have been based, is the follow-
ing : “ Prudent, swift to wrath, changeable, timid,
speaking under the influence of the Holy Ghost, and
working wonders.”

He suffered martyrdom, crucified head downwards,
for he had bound the Praefect by an oath that he should
not be put to death as the Lord had been put to death.
This occurred in the consulship of Apronianus and
Capito, says Malelas, but there are discrepancies be-
tween him and the Chronicle of Eusebius. Nero also
caused Pilate to be beheaded,’- saying, “ Why did he
give up the Lord Christ to the Jews — a man blameless,
and doing works of power? For if His disciple did
such wondrous things, how mighty must He have
been ? ” In the same reign St. Paul arrived in Rome,
sent from the land of the Jews to plead his cause, and
he also became a martyr by beheading, on the third
before the Kalends of July, in the consulship of Nero
and Lentulus. Nero ordered the bodies of the holy
Apostles to be cast forth unburied. A personal de-
scription of St. Paul is given. He was prudent, moral,
affable, sweet, an enthusiast under the influence of the
Holy Spirit, and endued with the power of healing.

The Festival of SS. Peter and Paul, on June 29, is
^ one of the greatest in Church history. In

The Feast of .. , ° •, i ^ no,

ss. Peter reading the Lesson and the Gospel for that
“ ^ ■ day, also those for the Feast of St. Peter’s
Chair at Antioch and at Rome, and again those for the
Commemoration of St. Paul, we understand the spirit

^ Malelas, and Ghron, Alex. But Eusebius, Cedrenus, Zonaras, make
him commit suicide in the time of Caligula. Glycas beheads him in
Tiberius’ reign.

EARLY EORMS OE THE CHRISTIAN LEGEHD. 433

and purpose of the great Petrine and Pauline passages
in the New Testament. Taking our stand in the
quarter of the Vatican about the year 1280 by the first
Church of St. Peter, and looking toward the Janiculum,
we hear the rumour of the Apostolic pair, as tutelar
saints of the city of the Caesars, beginning to fill the
air. Our glance presently falls on Jewish faces, per-
haps on those of other Orientals, Arabs, Moors, Persians,
followers of the Manichaean creed, disowners alike of
the Scriptures of the Synagogue and of the Church.
It is then we begin to understand how old Oriental
dogma assumes to the imagination of the Churchman
the loathed form of heresy ; how the nearest critics of
the Church — the Jews — must be branded with the mark
of ancestral crime ; how all other Oriental critics of
her system must be condensed into the person of Simon
the Mage, the pretender to Divine honours, the rival
and the vanquished victim of the first Vicar of Jesus
Christ. We learn also how the great pretension of the
Church to teach and rule the nations of mankind is
becoming embodied in the personal legend of the
Apostle of the Gentiles.

CHAPTEE XI.

THE INTERPOLATIONS IN THE LITERATURE
OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

The literature of the old Eoman Empire has come
down to us from the cloisters mutilated, interpolated,
and glossed by the hands of the Benedictines. The
men who were responsible for the composition of the
works ascribed to Josephus have inserted a mass of
absurdities relating to Jews, Samaritans, Egyptians,
Christians, &c., into the pages of the Eomans. The
ecclesiastical theory of the geography and history of
Judsea has been here embodied — a geography and
history which date perhaps from about the time when
the Hospice of St. John of Jerusalem was established,
when Monte Cassino monks had founded there the
Abbey of Our Lady of Latina, and were to be found
also at Bethlehem and Mount Sinai, at Caesarea and
Gaza. I do not pretend to offer an exhaustive list of
the interpolations, but merely to cite some of the
most striking, with a view to show that we have not
in our hands a pure edition of the Greek and T.a.t.iri
classics of the Empire.

How visionary mediaeval geography was may be seen
by the study, e.g., of the works ascribed to the Bene-
dictine “ Orosius,” and still better, after examination
of a mediaeval map of the world like that in the
Cotton Library, “Tiberius, b. 5.” This MS. in T.at. in

434

INTEEPOLATIOHS IN ROilAN LITERATURE. 435

and Anglo-Saxon cannot be of eaidier time than the
thirteenth century, and it shows, among other things,
what astonishing representations the monks had formed
to themselves of the territoiy of the Jews. The tribes
of Israel occupy the territory between Thai'so, in
Cilicia, and Caesarea Philippi on the north, to Alex-
andria on the south; from the Mediterranean on the
west to the Euphrates on the east. Syria, Arabia, and
Mount Sinai in the desert lie still further east beyond
the Tigris. It is easy to understand, in the light of
this witness, how they could persuade themselves that
the Jews had exercised a great warlike dominion in
the time of Alexander the Great and of the Roman
Emperors.

Such ideas were originally derived from the Rabbi-
nical dreamers and Cabbalists of the thirteenth century.
From the Sepher Juchasim, and other such dream-
histories, the tale about Jaddua, Iddo, or Jaddus, and
his reception of Alexander the Great, passed from A.
ben David to Josephus Gorionides and the other Jose-
phus, and so to Paulus Diaconus, Ereculphus, and
others of the same confederacy. But the monks have
far outdone their Rabbinical preceptors. Their object
was to represent the Jews as extremely ancient and
powerful, because they themselves, the Christiani, were
to be represented as a sect of them. And at the same
time the object was to represent the Jews as the
object of the greatest hatred and spite to the Roman
people, so that they might justify their system of
persecution against the unhappy people. The modem
reader has only to examine with strictness the Roman
geography, and then the Arabian geography, to com-
pare with these the Rabbinical geography, in order
to be convinced of the baselessness of all the tales

43 ^

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

concerning the relations of Romans to Jews during
the old Empire.^

Cicero, in a speech delivered a few years after the
cioero, B.O. pretended triumph of Pompey over the un-
106-43- fortunate Jews, is made to allude, as if with
bated breath, to their great numbers and influence
in Rome. One absurdity is supported by

ProFlacco, .

B.0. 58. anotner. The orator is made also to allude

■ to the Iturwans as archers and brigands.

Virgil, in his Georgies, is made to sing of bear-
ing Idumcean palms to Mantua.® There is no reason
Virgil, B.a. fo suppose he had ever heard of Idumosa
70-19- or Judaea The epithet, moreover, is otiose

where it stands. But more important is the fourth
Eclogue in the present relation. Here the forged
Sibylline verses, spoken of by the Basilian who writes
under the name of Justin Martyr, occur at once to
memory. They have been also cited in a forged
Concio ad Clerum, in the name of Constantine, and
the monks pretend that Cicero had rendered them
into Latin. The Emperor is made to sanction the
Messianic interpretation of Virgil, and the monk who
writes a Commentary on Romans, in the name of
Augustine, puts his finger decisively on the line —

Jjltima Cummi jam mnit carminis miaB,

But tlie Cumsean Sibyl herself seems to be the inven-
Acrostic. tion of the monks. It is Lactantius ” who
Oracle. tolks of her. We need but remind the reader
of the forged acrostic oracle in the De Civitate Dei^

^ See also the Hereford Map in the King’s Library, and the Polychronicon,
ascribed to the Benedictine Higden.

* iii. 12. V. Probns, in loo., says the Idumaeans are Jews of Palestine.
Cf. also -lEl, jBT. a, vi. 17.

INTERPOLATIONS IN ROMAN LITERATURE. 437

on tlie words Itjaovs Xpeicrfb^ Qeuv i5to? a^Ttjp, which
pseudo-Augustine pretends that the Proconsul Placi-
dianus had shown him.^

But Virgil became a great Middle Age prophet in
the age immediately preceding that of Dante, and to
that age the forgery possibly belongs. The feeling
about the Sibyls may be illustrated from early Italian
engravings.®

Most of our MSS. of Horace come from the Bene-
dictine monasteries of Prance, where his Horace, b.o.
writings were copied industriously fr'om the
thirteenth or fourteenth century. His text has been
interpolated with clumsy places relating to “ the Jews.”
He is made, like Cicero, to allude to their great num-
bers in Eome, and overwhelming influence,® and their
credulity.^ A Roman is supposed to talk of their
“ thirtieth Sabbath,” and to be afraid of offending the
curti Judsei ! ®

And Horace, like his friend of Mantua, and like
following poets, is made to introduce the palms of
Idumaea, as if they grew only there —

“ Herodis pcdmetis pinguibus.” ®

Ovid, in the De Arte Amomdi, is made to allude to
the Sabbath as kept by the Syrian Jew, in another
place by the Syrian Palestinian.

^ 0 , B. xviii. c. 23.

® See the treatise of F. Piper on Yirgil as Prophet, 1862, and Th*
Creizenach on the jEneid, the fourth Eclogue, and the Pharsalia in the
Middle Ages, 1864. The fables about him in the Gesta EomaTwmm^ cc.
Ivii. cxx., appear to date from the thirteenth century. Further, in TeuffePs
JRistory of Latin Lit,^ § 226, Yirgil and Lucan are also made to allude to
Itwrman archers, like Cicero, Gm-g. ii. 448, Fhars, vii. 23a
* Sat L 4, 143. ^ V. 160. ^ ix, 7a

® ii. 2, 184.

438

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

Strabo in his description of Syria is made to utter
absurdities about the Libanus and the Jordan
B.ors4-^D. and Gennesaritis ; about Joppd and the myth
of Andromeda, Jerusalem, the “ metropolis
of the Jews ; ” about Gadaris, Azotus, Ascalon, and
Gaza.^ The reader will find the mediaeval sources of
these notions in Josephus, the first book of Maccabees,
and Stephanus of Byzantium ; in Sozomen, v. 3 ; in
Marcus Diaconus’ Life of St. Porphyry, c. 8.^

Then Strabo is supposed to speak of Judsea in a
very singular way. The western parts are held by the
Idumseans or Nahatseans, who went over to the Jews
and joined in their customs.® Most of the country is
said to be inhabited by mixed tribes of Egyptians,
Arabians, and Phoenicians. Such are those who dwell
in Galilee and Jericho, and Philadelphia and Samaria,
which Herod called Sebaste. There being such a
mixture of population, the prevailing report of those
connected with the Temple in Jerusalem says that “ the
ancestors of those now called Jews were Egyptians.”

The whole history of the “land of Jehuda” in the
Old Testament, or of Judsea in the writings of the
monks, shows that at the time of the Crusades the name
was but coming into use to denote an undefined tract
of land like Syria, of which the churchmen intended to
take possession, as “promised to the son of David.”*
Nothing is plainer than that Eabbins and monks first
dreamed of Judsea and Jerusalem as the heritage of

^ xvi. 755, 759.

= Of. ia geaeral Eeland, Pal. 778 ; Banbury, Swf. 0/ AwAenA Oeog., ii.
27a

s See the source of this story in Josephus, Ant. lii 8, 6, xiii. 9, i ;
I Maco. V. 65 ; also in the false Joseph ben Gorion.

* Stephanus, s. vv. Etfmofs, louSofo, actually derives from Judcea and
IdwriKBa, sons of Semiramis, or from one Judmus, son of Sparton !

INTERPOLATIOXS IIS' EOMAX LITEEATUEE.

439

David, and then sought to discover them to the senses
of men.^ Strabo knew of Syria, hut nothing is more
certain than that he was wholly ignorant of any geo-
graphical tract called Jvdcea, or the land of the Jews.

And then Straho is supposed to tell us that Moses
was an Egyptian priest, and that he had a part of the
land Egypt, and removed thence, being displeased
with the customs, and many who honoured the Deity
removed with him. Then we have a theological
disquisition on the error of Egyptian and Libyan and
Hellenic religion. Moses is said to have declared that
“ the element which surrounds us all, the land and sea,
was God almxe, which we call heaven and world, and
the nature of existing things.” There is more of this
kind of writing, much in the same windy style that
characterises the mock Josephus. Moses led a large
number of men to the spot where the building in
Jerusalem now stands. Then we have an attack on
the superstitions of the Jews, their abstinences and
circumcisions. Nothwithstanding their dissensions and
troubles, they preserved their Acropolis intact. More
disquisition on religious rites follows, the object of
which is to prove that the Jews had institutions like
the Greeks, oracles and diviners. Moses is compared to
Amphiaraos, Trophonios, Orpheus, Musseus, Zamolxis ;
to the Gjonnosophists of the Indians, the Mages
and Necromancers of the Persians, the Chaldseans of
the Assyrians, the Etruscan Haruspices among the
Romans. “Thus the Jews had a good beginning, but
turned aside to the worse.”

Judsea being ruled by tyrants, Alexander first pro-
claimed himself king instead of priest. His sons were
Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, who disputed about the

See the Basilian Cyril, In Jesaiam., lih. i. or. ii, on the sensible Jnisen,

440

THE RISE OE CHEISTEITOOM:.

government, and were overcome by Pompey, and so
forth. In short, we are in the hands of the men who
compiled Josephus and other mediaeval fictions.

No one acquainted with the sober and accurate
manner of the Koman geographer will believe that he
wrote this passage. It is equally certain that no
Eabbin of Tiberias, or of any other school, wrote it.
When the old question, Cui hono f is once fairly asked,
no other answer can be given than that the writers
interested in inserting the passage were those who were
stirring up Europe to rescue the “ Holy Land ” from
the Moslem infidels, and who represented Christians as
the true successors to the temporal glories of David.

The reader may compare what Laurence Valla has
said in reference to the Latin monk’s Commentary
on Jonah,^ and may further trace these geographical
ideas in other ecclesiastical sources.®

The shortest way to the detection of the forgery is
perhaps through Josephus Gorionides, once confounded
with the other Josephus, but now known to be an
Italian mediaeval Jew. He quotes as authorities Strabo,
Nicolas of Damascus, and Titus Livius.

Mela places Azotus in Arabia. He divides Syria
Pomponius Coele, Mesopotamia, Damascene, Adia-
bene, Babylonia, Judeea, Sophene. Palestine
touches Arabia, Phcenice extends to Cilicia. Then
Antiochia is named.

1 Elegant v. 6.

2 J osepli,, B. J. 3, 9, 3 5 Egesipp. JDe Ec. Jlieros^ iii. 20 ; Hieron. In Jonam,
An anonymous monJc of Kavenna, whose writings have been attached to
E Mela, has written, probably in the thirteenth century, a dreamy theo-
logical geography in his study, in which he gives Joppis, Azoton, Ascalon,
Oasis, as towns of Judaea. He cites as his authority one Castorius, and
mentions the Jeromisus among the “very many rivers” of Judsea, ii. 14.
Similarly, Pliny and Ptolemseus give in the same order Oaza, Ascalon,
Azotus,

INTEEPOLATIOXS IX ROMAX LITEEATURK

441

In Palestine is the great fortress of Gaza, also
Ascalon, and Joppfe ; in Phoenicia is Tyre.

With Mela may be compared Pliny, lib. v., and
Ptolemseus, who defines Judsea as Syria Palestina, as
does the interpolator of Dion Cassius in chapter 37,
and others, whether they interpolate or write under
the names of Eusebius and Jerome.

, Diodorus, who in his first book is made to allude to
the leading rite of the Jews as similar to that ^

_ ^ Dioaoms

of the Egyptians, has ascribed to him also an sicuius, c.
absurd tMe concerning Antiochus Epiphanes.

He made war upon them, and went into the sanctuary
of God, which it is not lawful to enter, except for the
priest. He found in it a stone statue of a man with
a thick beard, sitting on an ass, holding in his hands
a book, which he suspected to be the book of Moses,
who founded Jerusalem, and the nation, and who was
the author of the misanthropic and evil laws to the
Jews. It is further pretended that Antiochus insulted
the statue and the sacred books, and that he extin-
guished “their undying candlestick, which burned
without ceasing in the Temple,” and so forth.^

It is monks of the fourteenth or fifteenth cen-
tury who call attention to the history of this „

Pompeius

writer : Eoger Wendover, Matthew of West-
minster, Eadulfus de Diceto. The work is temporarj-'

of Til vw

known to us through the corrupt abridgment

of Justinus, a much-read Middle Age book of the

cloisters.®

It contains, in a crude form, a fantastic theory of the
monks concerning Jewish history. The origin of the
Jews is said to be from Damascus, and Damascus took
its name from a King Damacus. After him, Azelus,

1 Ed. xxxiv. I. * Of. Hieron. In Eanid . ; Orosiiis L 8, &c.

442

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

Adores, Abraham and Israhel reigned. Israhel divided
the people into ten kingdoms, and handed them to his
sons. The story of Joseph is told, and his son is said
to be Moses. When the people are expelled from
Egypt, Moses, repairing to Damascus, his old father-
land, occupies Mount Syna. The institute of the
Sabbath is termed a fast, as in Suetonius. i Moses is
succeeded by his son Arruas, who is made king. We
are told that Xerxes first subdued the Jews ; they
later came under the sway of Alexander the Great ;
they revolted from Demetrius, and obtained friendship
and liberty from the Romans.® But the reduction of
Syria to a Roman province by Pompey is told in a
line ; it is “ Syria of the J ews and Arabs.” ®

The source of these tales will be found in the
writings of the forgers of a late century : in “ Jose-
phus against Appion,” in the Benedictine “Orosius”
i. 8 ; in “ Rufinus,” “ Julius Firmicus,” &c. They
pretend that Joseph was worshipped as Serapis, or
Osiris, or Arsaph. So also “ Clement of Alexandria,”
and “Augustine.” When Moses is said to inherit
paternal science, the meaning is that he was a Mage.
Pliny, XXX. 2, is made to say that there was in his time
a magical faction derived from Moses and Jochabel
his mother ; while Apuleius joins Moses with Jannes
as very celebrated Mages. Diogenes Laertius is made
to witness to the connection of Jews and Mages.

Another source of absurdities is the interpolator of
Suidas’ Lexicon, to whom reference has been elsewhere
made. Alexander, sumamed Polyhistor, of the time of
Sulla, is said to have vndtten that there was a H^ew
woman na/med Moso, who had written down the Law
of the Hebrews.

1 The Saturday fast at Rome is meant. 2 xxxvi, 2. s xl. 2.

INTEEPOLATIONS !N ROMA:^’ LITERATUEE. 443

The story that the Jews were driven out of Egj'pt as
lepers is in Justin, xxxvi. 2, repeated in Orosius, and
in the forged passage, Tacitus v. 3. On Mount Sina
compare the Benedictine Snip. Severus, Dial. i. ii.
Gal. iv. 25.

With the foolish story in Justin that the Sabbath
was consecrated for ever as a fast, in memory of the
end of hunger and wandering, may he compared the pas-
sages in Dion Cassius, chap. 3 7, that in pseudo-Augus-
tine, C. D. vi. II, where the humane Seneca is made
to bitterly attack the Jews as scderatissima gens, and
to pretend that the Sabbath has become an universal
custom. Compare the canonical Gospel, Luke xviii. 12.

The talk of the Jews deriving their income from
opohalsamum, found only in Judsea, Justin xxxvi. 3,
may be compared with passages in Pliny, xii. 25 (54),
Strabo, xvii. 2, 41, Solinus, xlviii., and with the talk
of Herod’s palm-trees. The forgers were acquainted
with the trade of mediaeval Jews, but their idea of
Oriental geography was vague as a dream.

This -writer, who is animated by the old Eomish
spirit, and a great lover of the Roman name, veiieius
simply says that Syria and Pontus were
monuments of Pompey’s valour. He ap- 3 ^-
pears to have escaped the hand of the interpolator.

In the EpitomsB of Livy, Pompey, after reducing
Pontus to a province, is said to have subdued the Jews,
and to have taken their fane in Hierosolyma, inviolate
up to that time.^

In Lucan’s PAar^aZia, Pompey is made to say — “ Cap-
padoces mea signa timent, et dedita saaris ^

Incerti Judsea Dei, molUsque Sophene.” ^

Here again the same theological colour is apparent,
^ E<pit cii, ® ii. 593.

444

THE EISE OF CHEISTEHDOM:.

and even obstrusive. The incertus deus reminds of the
passages in Strabo and in Tacitus; and the anxious
desire to fix in the reader’s mind an association between
Pompey and the Jews is again to be recognised, as
also in a couplet inserted in Claudian, doubtless fironi
the same handJ

Again, in Lucan we read — in the same Pompeian
interest —

Accedunt Syria populi, desertus Orontes,

Et felix, sic fama, Ninos ; ventosa Damascus,

Gazaque, et arbusto palmarum dives Idume
Et Tyros instabilis, pretiosaque murice Sidon.®

The historian of Alexander’s conquest is made to
tell how the Samaritans burned a Prsefect
Sap. Yes-’ of Syria, Andromachus, alive.® The source is
paaian. again the Basilians Eusebius and Cedrenus,
Josephus and Epiphanius.

In the Supplement of Preinshem to Book ii. 1 1, will
be found further illustrations of this point.

Most of the MSS. of Juvenal have been greatly
j ^ ^ corrupted. The passages in him relating to
Jews in Borne in the first century have at-
tracted attention by their strangeness. We must decide
against them on the same ground. It is hardly neces-
sary to discuss them in detail ; that in the fourteenth
Satire most clearly betrays the hand of one of the same
class of forgers who have tried to emend Strabo. Juvenal
is made to enumerate, among the bad examples set by
parents, the superstitious feeling about the , Sabbath.
The son of such a father adores nothing hut the clouds
and the spirit of the shy. He thinks swine’s flesh to
he tTie same as human flesh, and presently practises

1 Jji Entrap. L 220.

* iii. 215 ; of. vii. 230.

® iv. 8.

INTERPOLATIOJTS IN ROMAN LITERATURE. 445

circumcision. Accustomed to contemn the Roman
laws, they learn and heep and fear the J udaic jus :
whatever Moses handed down in a secret volume,
which teaches you not to show the way except to a
fellow-worshipper, and to lead verpi alone (an obscene
term) to the sought fountain}

The Latin is bad, the animus shown still worse.
The scholiast betrays the origin of the interpolation by
talking of baptism ; and the mention of the “ Secret
Roll” reminds us of the legends of the Jewish Cabbala.

In the sixth Satire a clumsy “aside” is thrust in,
alluding to a land where kings “ observe festal Sabbaths
with bare feet, and ancient clemency indulges old pigs.” ®
Just so Tacitus is made to say that pigs grow old
among the Jews. Josephus and Hegesippus also de-
scribed Berenice coming with bare feet to Jerusalem.

The bad Latin in the line —

Arcanam Judcea tremens mendicaf in aurem,^^^

again attracts attention. J UTenal could not have written
it. But the picture of the stealth of Jewish prophesying,
and their readiness to sell you any sort of dreams for a
small bit of money, is only too characteristic of that
period of the Middle Age when such things were done.
In this and in some other places the attempt is made
to thrust in the Jewish religion in connection with
that of Isis and Osiris.*

Another picture of Jewish beggars living in the
temple of the Camoense, according to the scholiast,
betrays the same hand and repeats the same phrase,
cophinus fcenumque supellex.^

1 Sat xiv. 96, sej- ; cf. the learned notes in Mr. Mayor’s edition.

2 vi. 155, seq. ® vi. 542.

* It is more like a description of the Gipsies. * iii 14.

446

THE RISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

Again, Idumsean is used for Jewish in the phrase,
“ Idumseae Syrophcenix incola portse.” ^

The interest of the Western monks in Seneca con-
Seneca c. 3 sists in their desire to make him out a friend
B.C.-6S A.D. their St. Paul. They have forged a series
of foolish letters with this object in yiew ; and they
have moreover inserted a passage ironically allusive to
the Jews in the Epistles to Lucilius : —

“ I have taught how the gods are to be worshipped.
Let us forbid any one to Tcindle a lamp on the Sabbaths ;
since neither do the gods need light, nor do even men
delight in smoke. Let us forbid the offering of morn-
ing salutation, and sitting at the doors of temples.
Human ambition is taken by such offices as these. He
worships God who knows him.” ^

There is also an allusion to certain rites of foreign
nations, and arguments of superstition in favour of
abstinence from certain animals, which are probably
from the same hand.®

The source of the forgery may be seen in the false
Augustine, C. D., vi. 1 1 .

The Epigrams of Martial have been interpolated with
Martial, c. Several spiteful and obscene passages relating
to the Jews ; and he also is made to use the
word Idumsean as equivalent to Jewish. Titus with
his father merited an Idumsean triumph,^ and we hear
once more of the Idumsean palms.® We hear of the
“ fasts of the Sabbatarians ” as causing bad breath ; ®
and in a pictmre of the streets of Eome, the Jew who
has been taught by his mother to beg (rogare) is intro-
duced.’^ We hear of “ circumcised Jews,” ® and of a

1 viii. 160. ^ Ep, i 95.

^ Ep. i. 108 ; cf. Tacit. A, ii. 83 ; Suet, Tib. xxxvi.

^ ii, 2. ® X. 50. ® iv. 4, ^ xii. 57. ® vii. 29.

INTEEPOLATIONS IN ROMAN LITERATURE. 447

pretended J ewish slave wlio has come fi-om “ burnt
Solyma,” and is subject to tribute.^

In Valerius Flaccus also we find Idumi and Solymus
used in the same abusive manner. He is sup- vaL Fiacous,
posed to say, in bis address to Vespasian — pSnT**'

versam proles tua pandet Idumen
(Namque potest) Solymo nigrantem pxdvere fratrem,
Spargentemque faces et in omni tune furentem.” ^

The MS. of this poem, which has not been recognised
by ancient writers except Quintilian, was discovered at
the Benedictine convent of St. Gall byPoggio in 1417.

Another hint of the manner in which the Latin
monks fabricated evidence in favour of their ^
theory about the Jews is furnished by the
Latin monk who writes under the name “ Minu-
cius Felix,”, and who pretends to cite one Antonius
Julianus, of the reign of Vespasian, as having said
that “ the Jews deserved their ill fate by their own
iniquity.”^ With him is made to join Josephus, or
the Basilian monk who writes under his name, and who
calls this Julian Procurator of Judsea.^ Bernays has
justly conjectured® that Tacitus’ story in the Histories
was derived from this source — in other words, whoUy
from a monkish source.

Another of the discoveries of Poggio or PoHtian at
the Benedictine cloisters of St. Grail, was „

C. Silius

the MS. of the Punica of this poet, which itaUcus,2s-
was subsequently lost. Silius has been made,
like other Latin poets, to sing of the “race of Palestine,”
meaning the Jews (iii. 600 seq .) —

‘‘hie fera gentis

Bella Palasstinss primo delehit in save.”

1 vii. 54 ; of. xL 95:

. 4 B. J. 6, 4, 3. .

® Argonaut 1 12. ® Oct, xxxiii. 4.

® SeveruA^ p. 56.

448

THE KISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

That bold interpolations were made in the text of
this poet in the Juntine edition of 1515 has been
already recognised.

Another of Poggio’s discoveries was the MS. of
Statius 45-96. Statius. In the SilvoB we find the lines —

‘'Latius cui ductor Eoa
Signa, Palcestinasque dedit frenare cohortes.” ^

And again —

An Solymum cinerem, palmetaqne capta subibis,

JSTon sibi felices silvas ponentis Idumes.^^ ^

And again —

“ Quidqnid nobile Pontiois nncetis,

Fecundis cadit ant jugis Idumes,^^ ^

This poet was a favourite of the Middle Age, as
readers of Dante may recall. He is made in the
Purgaiorio to say —

“ In that time

When the good Titus, with Heaven’s King to help,

Aveng’d those piteous gashes, whence the blood
By Judas sold did issue, with the name
Most lasting and most honour’d, there was I
Abundantly renown’d.”'*

Then in Persius we have the strange description of
Persius, c. the “days of Herod,” when the “lanterns
34 ’®®- pour out their fat mist,” and again, as in
Horace, his auditor is supposed to stand in dread of
the “circumcised Sabbaths” of the Jews —

“Labra moves tacitus, recuUtague sabbata palles.”“

Here, too, the rites of Isis are brought into close
connection with those of the Jews.

^ iiL 2, 104; cf. 138 seq.

* i, 6, 12. * Purg, xxL

® v. 2, 138.

® Bat. V. 188, seq.

INTERPOLATIONS IN ROMAN LITERATURE. 449

To Quintilian, the arbiter of taste, some of the
monks of the West have had the audacity Quintman,
to ascribe their own paltry declamations.^ 25-95-
There are no other witnesses to the Declamations
ascribed to that author. In addition to this, he is
made to censure the unsocial nature of the Jews in
his Institutes. ^

We come now to the strange story which Tacitus is
supposed to tell about the Jews in the fifth Taoitus,c.
book of his Histories, which should have S4-119.
contained the account of what happened in the Koman
Empire during the years 69 and 70.

After all that has been said about the Benedictines
and their literary activity, we may now certainly affirm
that this strange piece of mythology was their produc-
tion. The principal MS. is the Mediceus 11 ., incor-
rectly supposed to have been written between 1053—
1087. And it is the monks who write under the
notorious names of TertuUian® and of Jerome* who
direct our attention to the work. The passage instructs
us, in connection with other evidence, how entirely
fantastic were the notions about the Jews at the time
of their settlement as a schola in Rome.

Here Judmi are said to be derived from Idm, be-
cause they were once, in the days of good King Saturn,
settled in Crete ! Some say that in the reign of Isis,
the overflowing multitude of them in Egypt was dis-
burdened upon the neighbouring lands, under the
leadership of Hierosolymus and Judas. Others talk of
Assyrian settlers who gained possession of a part of
Egypt and then of Hebrew lands. Others trace the
name Hierosolyma to the Solymi of Homer’s song.

1 See Jerome, In JEJsai, viii. prsef. ; Lactant. i. 21, v. 7, vi. 23.

® iii. 7, 21, ® Apol. xvi. ^ On Zack lib. iii. c, 14.

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

450

Then we have the strange story of Moyses and the
herd of wild asses which conducts him to the waters ;
and the description of Jewish customs. The object of
the whole is to create the impression on the minds
of students that Tacitus thought the people of immense
antiquity, that he looked upon their rites with con-
tempt, and yet that he was aware of features in their
life which resembled the life of the monks. He is
made to blow hot and cold, because the monks hate
the orthodox Jews, and at the same time desire to
represent the Jews as their ancestors.

When we name Sulpicius Severus, the monk of
Aquitaine, we name a monk of the same Benedictine
confederacy, who wrote about the same time with his
brother monk of Monte Cassino, and who is a fellow-
forger of tales about the Jews in his Historia Sacra.

The same MS. contains the Annals, xi.-xvi., in
which occurs the notorious passage concerning Christus
and the Christiani. Here the writer is thinking in
Catholic phrases. He renders confessors by qui fate-
hantur, and talks obscurely of flagitia in connection
with the Christian name.

In the Annals, ii. 85, we have the absurd passage
corresponding to one in Suetonius, Tib. 36, in which
several thousand Jews are said to have been enrolled
as soldiers and sent to Sardinia.

The supposed correspondence of Pliny with the
punythe Emperor Trajan is not to be found in any

Younger, extaut MS. It was added to the collection

by Aldus.

The fraud should have long ago been discovered.
One cannot read the first two sentences without feeling
that this is the writing of a man unaccustomed to think
in classical Latin. He probably thought in French.

INTEEP 0 LATI 02 TS IN ROMAN LITERATURE. 451

What can grate more harshly on the ear than such
phrases as cunctationem meam regere and ignorantiam
instruerel Other expressions reveal the hand of the
forger in Tacitus. We have the talk about fiagitia,
faterentur used in an obscure sense, Sacramento in the
Catholic sense, and the like, Pliny was neither a
Catholic, nor was he the man to employ expressions
which he did not understand. So long used as an
evidence of Christianity, the letter is in fact one of the
most glaring and impudent fabrications in the long
series.

The theory of Pompey’s triumph over the Jews will
be found inserted in the writings of Appian ; ^ geeona
also of Trajan’s war upon the Jews in century.
Egypt.’ ^

Similar things will be found in Herodian ; and
Irmisch has pointed out many passages in
which Herodian appears to be an “ imitator
of J osephus,” In other words, he has been tampered
with by the Basilians and Benedictines.

The fragments of Dion Cassius’ work have come to us
from the hands of the same men who wrote

_ « _ , T Oassius.

the flatulent nonsense that passes under the
name of Josephus. Zonaras, a monk of the Order
of St. Basil, has been good enough to make an
abstract for us of the first twenty books ; another monk
of the same Order, Xiphilinus, has made an epitome
of the later books. They have taken care to insert
their theories about the Jews in many places in the
text, of which it may suffice to give the mere list,® after
all that has been said.

^ DeBdl. MitJmd. 106, 114, 117.

® De BeU. Gw. ii. 90.

® xxxvii. 16, xxxix. 56, xlvii. 28, Ixvi. 4-7, IxviL 14, IxTiii. i, 32.

452

THE EISE OF CHEISTENDO.M.

In the Life of Julius Csesar we read that at the public
Suetonius, moumiug on his death, the J ews were conspi-
7S-i6o. cuous among a great multitude of foreigners.
They frequented the pyre “ for nights running,”
noctihus continuis ! In Josephus, Ant. xiv. 14, will be
found the explanation of this remarkable behaviour.

Augustus is made to allude, in a pretended letter,
to a “ fast of the Sabbath,” the ecclesiastical Saturday
fast. He praised Caius because, in passing by Judaea,
he had not prayed at Jerusalem. Claudius expelled
from Eome Jews who rioted on the instigation of one
Chrestus. Christiani are a race of men of new and
malefic superstition. There are the fables about Ves-
pasian, and his triumph over the Jews. Titus is said
to reduce Tarichsea and Gamala, “very strong cities
of Judaea.” Domitian was present at the Jewish
triumph of his father and brother. And then there is
the indecent talk of the Jewish fiscus and its oppres-
sion, of which there are echoes in Martial.

In Floras we find again the fable of Pompey enter-
Korus, c. Jerusalem, where he sees that “great

138. Arcanum of the impious race!' ^

In Arrian’s Lectures of Epictetus another allusion to
the Jews and abstinence from swine’s flesh
is impertinently thrust in. In the discus-
sion on Notions, the philosopher asks, “Who does
not lay down that the just is the fair and the becom-
ing ? When, therefore, does conflict arise ? In the
accommodation of notions to particular things, when
one says, ‘He did well, he is brave, or otherwise.’
Hence strife arises among men. This is the conflict of
Jews, Syrians, Egyptians, and Romam, not as to the
question whether the holy and right is above all to be

* iii. 6, 30 ; e£. Aug. 0 . D. xviii. 45, Idatius, and other Beuedictiues.

INTERPOLATIONS IN ROMAN LITERATURE. 453

Referred and pursued, hut whether this is right or
wrong, to live on pork. This you will find to be the
quarrel of Agamemnon and Achilles,” &c. The inter-
polated patch upon the test is most glaring. And the
offence is great against a writer so distinguished by
the best Eoman and philosophic feeling.

Again, the philosopher nobly chides those who would
take up the profession of philosophy, when they cannot
fulfil the calling and duty of a man. He contrasts the
doctrine of the lip and the truth that has been digested
by the mind.

“What is the difference whether you discourse on
the principles of this or that school, of Epicurus or
the Stoics? Why do you deceive the people? Why
do you pretend, being a Jew, to he a Greek? Do you
not see how each is said to he a Jewf how each a
Syrian? how each an Egyptian? And when we see
one taking two sides, we are wont to say, ‘ He is not a
Jew, hut a hypocrite.' But when he takes up the
affection of one who has been baptized and has pro-
fessed, then he is indeed and is called a Jew. So also
we Pa/rahaptists in word indeed are Jews, but in fact
something else.” ^

Here canonical echoes strike upon the ear. Not
only have the monks put these starthng observations
into the mouth of Epictetus, but they have been in-
debted to him in more than one place in the compila-
tion of the New Testament. However, the object
here is to confound Jews with Christians, as in other
interpolations.

The clumsy hand of the monks is again most em-
phatic in another passage, where the philosopher is
discoursing on fearlessness of mind. He dwells upon

^ ii. g.

■ 454

THE EISE OE CHEISTENDOM.

the usual counteractions to fear, contempt of the body
and of riches. But he is made to say something quite
contrary to the spirit of philosophy: “If any one is
so affected towards wealth and towards the body,
towards children and wife — if, in fine, by a certain
madness and despair he is affected so that it malces
no difference to him whether he has those things or
not, what tyrant will be -dreaded, &c. ? Then, if one
may be affected by madness towards these things, and
by habit the GalilcBoms, can none know by reason and
demonstration that God has made all things in the
world, and the whole world free and perfect?” ^ The
incoherence introduced by the interpolator, and the
injury done to the calm argument of Epictetus, is
nothing less than revolting.

The Manual was introduced by the monks, with
alterations, into their schools.

It appears that the Latin monks were interested in
the tales of magic and miracle to be found in
Ant. Apuleius, and they have inserted some things
which have led unwary readers
to suppose that he was acquainted with
Judaism and Christianity. The references to him are
frequent in works ascribed to Augustine.*

Among the jurists of the second century, Papinian
The Jurists, and others, there was actually a Homan
Tertuiiian. lawyer of the name of Tertullian, who wrote
eight books of Questions. Nothing better illustrates
the effrontery of the monks than the fact that in the first
Ecclesiastical History® they have borrowed the name of
^ Biss, iv. 7.

2 G, D. viii 12, 14, 19 ; Ejffp, 136, 138 ; Lactant D, L v. 3, vii, 18. Cf.
the foolish, invective in Apul. Met xi. 14, The subject has been farther
treated by Hildebrand, 1842, i. p. xlix.

® Eos. R. R ii 2.

INTEEPOLATIOJfS IX EOMAX LITEEATUEE. 455

this lawyer as a mask for one of their own apolo-
getic writers. It is indeed probable enough that
some of the numerous Tertullianic tracts^ produced
in the Western monasteries were the work of a man
of legal training, as well as of shrewd, though dis-
honest wit.

Pausanias, who probably knew little of Syria, is also
forced to witness to an imaginary territory
of the Jews: “In the land of the Hebrews
there is a tomb of Silenus, &c.” ^ And then again, “ the
Hebrews xoho dwell above Palestine have enrolled a
soothsaying woman named Sabhe.” ® And Hadrian
subdued “ the Hebo'ews who dwell above the Syrians.” *
Here again the forgers are detected by means of their
Josephus.® Pausanias is also supposed to be ac-
quainted with the silk of the Hebrews.®

Nor are the monks who contrived the fable of Helena
and Constantine content without making this author
witness to a tomb “ among the Hebrews of a native
lady Helene, in the city Solymi, built by the emperor
of the Romans.”

In his account of Pompey, Plutarch is made to
enumerate, as the nations over which the „ ^
general triumphed, Pontus, Armenia, Cappa-
docia, Paphlagonia, Media, Colchis, Iberes, Albani,
Syria, Cilicia, Mesopotamia, the parts about Phcenice,
and PaloBstine, Judcsa, Arabia, and all the pirates by
land and sea. Among his captives was the king of
the Jews, Aristobulus.^

The tractate on Isis and Osiris ascribed to Plutarch
is, we think, also of doubtful genuineness. In the

1 See Apol. 1-6, 28-44 ; Be An. 6. ® vi 24. * x. 12.

^ i. 6, ® Ant vii. 9, ii, viii. 7, “laud of the Hebrews.”

® V. 5. 7 viii. 16. ® Chap. xlv. ; cf. chap, xxxiii.

45 ^

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

Symposium, the God of the Jews is identified with
Bacchus, and the Sabbath is derived from Sabho.

In his tractate, On Superstition, the following passage
is clumsily thrust in: — “The Jews on the Sabbath
sitting rigidly, when the enemy put up ladders, and
took the walls, did not rise, but remained as in a net,
being bound by superstition.” And again, “ See how
the Jews and Syrians think about the gods; look
at the works of the poets, how full they are of
superstition.” ^

Upon Lucian the Basilians make a violent attack,
pretending that he blasphemed the name of
Christ. Gesner and Niebuhr, however, ex-
posed the forgery of the Philopatns ; and equally the
Pereginus, in which the monks level their satire both
against Christians and against Cynics, must be re-
jected. In another spurious piece a satirical allusion
to the Jews occurs.^ The Alexandras or False Pro-
phet has been written or interpolated in the same
interest.

It will be noticed that in the Peregrinus the same
system is pursued by the monks of representing the
Christiani as a poor and despicable sect, related in
some way to the Jews. They cast out Peregrinus for
eating of some forbidden food.

The story about Philo of Byblus and Sanchoniathon
Philo of emanates from the fancy of the Basilians.
Byblus. They talk of Hierombalus, the priest of the
god Jmo; also of the Jews and other matters which
show that they have not yet the canonical text of the
Hebrew Scriptures in their hands.® Jeoud, the mythic
ancestor of the Jews, is made son of Kronos; the

^ De Stoic Bepicgn. 38. ® Tragodo-^podagray 173.

® Eus. P. B, i 9, seg.

IXTERPOLATIOXS IX SOMAN LITEEATUEE. 457

PhcEnicians call him Israel. The name of Chna was
changed to Phoenix, and so on.

Not content with representing Aurelius as a per-
secutor of the Christians, the monks have Marcus
borrowed from him, as from Epictetus, in the
composition of the Sermon on the Mount.^

Numenius is made a contemporary of Plutarch by
the monks of St. Basil, and a mouthpiece of
them dogma of the Logos. To him also is
ascribed the absurd saying, that “Plato was Moses
talking Attic Greek.” “

The Basilians also link themselves to the neo-
Platonists in the persons of Ammonius, and Hermes
Trismegistus, and again that of Amelius, who, it is
pretended, was acquainted with the definition of the
Logos in the fourth Gospel.®

The medieevalists resolved to force an echo firom the
celebrated neo-Platonist to their dogma, and Third Oen-
even to make him a witness to their existence
in the fourth century. Not content with “33-305-
this, they insert into his treatise on abstinence, where
he so nobly teaches the spirituality of true religion,
and the uselessness of sacrifices, a notice of the Jews.

“ And yet among the Syrians, the Jews, because of
sacrifice from the beginning, still sacrifice animals ; as
Theophrastus says, ‘ They do not feast on the victims,
but burning them whole by night, pouring much wine
and honey over them, they consume the sacrifice
quickly, lest the All-seer should be spectator of the
deed.’ ” "

We need cite no more of this absurd passage. There
is another in which the abstinence firom swine is men-

^ See Gataker, Index Locorum S. Seri^pturm, ^ Suidas, s. v.

® Eus. P. E, xi. 19. ^ De Abst, ii. 26.

458

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

tioned, and Porpliyry is supposed to learn from Jose-
phus of the three sects of the Pharisees, Sadducees,
and Essaei. He digresses into a description of the
latter, who are none other than the mystic ancestors of
the mediaeval monks, and wholly their creation.’^ Thus,
although the monks have never produced the treatise
that they pretend Porphyry wrote against the Christians,
they have inserted a very neat account of Monachism
into his treatise. There is yet another passage, in
which the neo-Platonist is supposed to recognise Gym-
nosophists, Brahmans, and Shamans of India ; also
Bardesanes, the Oriental heretic. This, too, is monkish,
and serves to remind us of the conditions of Oriental
influence under which the Catholic Church arose.®
Interesting in its way is the attempt to make
Porphyry cite the book of Genesis in connection with
the old folk-idea of the birth of souls from water.
He says that the Naiad Nymphs signify the virtues
that preside over the waters, or in general aU souls that
come to birth. ‘‘Souls haunt the divinely-breathed
water,” as Numenius says, “/or this reason declaring
that the Prophet said, the Spirit of God was horne
on the waters.” ®

It will now be apparent from whose hand proceeded

the remarkable passage wherein Longinus is

D. Longinus. i

supposed to be vaguely acquainted with the
writings of the Jewish legislator, and to quote from
them an example of the sublime.*

In the Lives of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius there
ThsSistoria, incidental references to risings of the
Avgvxta. jg-w^s, but no recognition of the existence of
Christiani tUl we come to the Life of Sept. Severus

^ DeAhst iv, 11-13. ^ Ibid. ir. 17.

® De Antro Kymph, * ix. 22.

KTTEEPOLATIOXS IN EOMAN LITEEATUEE. 459

ascribed to Spartiaaus, Here we read that the
Emperor, on his way from Antioch to Alexandria,
A. 202, laid the foundation of many laws for the
Palestinians.

“ He forbade men to become Jews under heavy
penalty. He laid down the same sanction concerning
the Christiani.” ^

In the first Ecclesiastical History it is indeed this
year that is signalised by the story of Origen and the
persecution.^

Again, by a law of Hadrian emasculation is forbidden
as a species of murder. It seems that our interpolator
has striven to create the impression that the Homans
confounded the act with circumcision.® The reader
will again recall the story of Origen, and the desire of
the ecclesiastics to represent themselves as a sect of
the Jews.

In the strange Life of Heliogabalus — a disgraceful
lampoon — there is the following strange story : —

“ He consecrated Heliogabalus on the Palatine Mount
by the imperial dwelling, and made him a temple, desir-
ing to transfer the type (or efiBgy) of the Great Mother,
and the fire of Vesta, and the Palladium, and the Anciha,
and all the venerable objects of Eoman affection, to
that temple, with the purpose that no god should be
worshipped at Home except Heliogabalus. ITe said,
moreover, that the religion of the Jews and the Samari-
tans, and the Christian devotion, should he transferred
thither, that the priesthood of Heliogabalus might hold
the secretvm of all cultures” *

1 C. xvii. ^ E, B. vL 2.

® Vit Hadr. c. xiv. ; cf. Digest, xlviii, 8, 4, 2 ; Pauhis, Sent. v. 22, 3, 4 ;
Modestinus, Dig, xlviii. 8, ii,

^ 0 , iii. The expressions secretum and cultura are ecclesiastical. Ens.
E, E. vii. 30, 9 ; Lactant v. 7 ; Tert. A^pol. xxi. ; God. Theod, xv, 4, i.

460

THE EISE OF CHEI8TENDOM.

In the Life of Alex. Severas we read that he reserved
privileges to the Jews, and suffered the Christiani to
exist.^ And the same intention is shown by this in-
terpolator to represent the cult of Christ as recognised
along with that of other gods. A picture is drawn of
this Emperor performing divine service in his lararium
or chapel, honouring the departed elect, among whom
were Apollonius, Christ, Abraham, Orpheus, and others.*
It is also represented that he observed the Roman
Saturday by going up to the Capitol ; and that he
desired to build a temple to Christ, and to receive Him
among the gods, which Hadrian had meditated to do.
Hadrian had ordered temples in all states to be made
without images,® and so had favoured the opinions of
the Christiani.

Then we have allusions to the custom among Chris-
tians and Jews, of publishing the names of priests to
be ordained, put into the mouth of this Emperor.*

Another interpolation seems to he connected with
the Church of Ara Coeli. Certain Popinarii complained
that the Christiani had seized a site which belonged to
them, and the Emperor replied in favour of the reli-
gionists.® He is supposed to have learned the “ Golden
Rule” from Jews or Christiani, and to have had it
written up on the Palatium and public works.®

In the Life of AureUan we find that an Epistle on
the Sibylline Books is ascribed to him, and he is made
to aUude to a Church of the Christiani.*

1 C. xxii. ® 0 . xxxii.

* C. xliii. The talk of simidacra betrays the ecclesiastical hand. See the
Vulgate of Osee, xi. 2 ; Acts vii 41 ; i Thess. i. 9 ; 1 Jo. v. 21 ; Apoe. ix.
20 ; OoL iii. 5.

* 0 . xlv. The verb ordino is ecclesiastical. Of. Dionysius Exigaus, God,
Cone. ATieyr. xxix. 37.

® 0 . xlix. * 0 . li. t 0 . XX.

INTEEPOLATIO^TS IN' EOMAF LITERATURE. 461

In the Life of Satuminus we come upon an extra-
ordinary passage in which an attack is made upon the
“ Egyptians,” and they are mixed up with Christians
and Samaritans. An epistle from Hadrian is produced,
in which he writes of Christiani, Jews, and Samaritans
as worshipping Serapis.

The reader will find the origin of these strange tales
in the Josephus of the monks, and again in their
Eusebius, their Socrates, and their Sozomen. Though
they are of quite another kind than the tales of the
emperors in the Gesta Romanorum, they are equally
devoid of all historical foundation, and were doubtless
conficted near to the same epoch.

Other forgeries in the Historia Augusta were ex-
posed by Father Hardouin, in his examination of the
coins of the period.

There was a genuine F. Matemus in the time of

Constantine, who wrote an astrological work. ^

The true old Roman morality and religion is

to be found in it. The man who speaks nus. Time of

daily of the gods and with the gods should ®°“**“**“®-

form his mind and heart for the imitation of Divinity.

“ Seek all the ornaments of virtue. Be modest even

among the sober, be content with low living and little
wealth.” Amd so forth. Nothing can be more amus-
ing than to contrast the poetical, distant, and vague
conceptions of the highest beings in this writer with
the pretended definitions of the Council of Nicaea.
A gulf of some 1000 years, in fact, separates this
Matemus from his rival, set up by the 'Western monks
to pour out a stream of declamation against old reli-
gion and old philosophy.

We need touch but briefly on Eutropius, the friend
of the house of Constantine, and other chroniclers

462 THE EISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

of the fourth century. Buddeus has remarked, in
a note, on the strange silence of Eutropius
toriansof in reference to the conyersion of Constan-
Oent^^— tine and the rise of the Christian religion.

Was spite the cause 1 No : it was simply
s. Eufus. Eutropius and his contemporaries knew

nothing whatever of any change in the religious
conditions of the empire. Apart from this, one
of the most unpardonable offences of the Basilians
and the Benedictines is that they have conspired to
deface and to caricatm’e the bright image of Julian,
one of the purest and noblest of spirits, according to
the testimony of his comrades and intimates, that ever
adorned the purple. He died fighting for our Western
culture, and has been rewarded by the title of apos-
tate from a semi-Oriental religion of which he never
heard. Monte Cassino monks are again the offenders
here.^

The Basilians continue to represent their party as
in relation to the philosophers of the fourth century.
Bash and Chrysostom, it is pretended, were pupils of
Libanius, and other imaginary monks corresponded
with him. Gregory of Nazianzus is linked with Hi me-
rius, and with Julian at the school of Athens.

It is certain that none of the works ascribed to
Juhan are genuine : it is the monks who insist upon
making him reflect their theories about the religious
condition of the empire in the fourteenth century.
Especially noteworthy is the frequent insertion of the
name Oalilsd in the Epistles; it is one of the names
which the monks have fixed upon as those of imaginary
Jewish ancestors of the Christiani, The whole series

1 Oa Jerusalem and the Jews see Eutrop. yi. 14, vii. 19, seq . — the story
of the Josephi again.

INTERPOLATION'S IN ROMAN LITERATURE. 463

of fables relating to the Emperor’s desire to rebuild the
temple at Jerusalem, and so forth, will be seen, in the
light of our investigations, to be a historic absurdity.

One of the most valuable of our too scanty documents
from the Roman Empire is the lies Gestae of a. MaToei-
Ammian, the officer and friend of Julian. The
first part of the work has been destroyed, the remainder
has been fearfully garbled. The principal MS. was
brought from the Benedictine cloister at Fulda by
Poggio.

Here again the theological geography and history
has been inserted into the text. Pompey is said to
have formed the “ regions of Palestine ” into a province,
after the conquest of the Jews and the capture of
Jerusalem.’^ The series of lies about Julian, the source
of which will be found in the Basilian who writes
under the name of Gregory Nazianzenus — is also duly
inserted. Then we have the usual explosion of spite
against “stinking and riotous Jews,” in an ancedote
about Vespasian. Nor are the Christiani spared. In
a ridiculous scene their bishops come with a ragged
mob into the palace, and the imperial preacher gives
them civil admonition. He had found that the
Christiani were fiercer than wild beasts towards one
another.®

There is a long list of extraordinary passages, in
which allusions are made to Christian priests, bishops,
and deacons mixing in some unaccountable way with
the affairs of the world. They are members of con-
spiracies ; they are employed as ambassadors. A rebel
Roman general is slain on his way to a Christian
conventicle at Cologne.

According to the conjecture of Gutschmid, after
^ xiv. 8. * xiii. S'

464

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

a description of Egyptian culture the author is sup-
posed to say, “From these sources IHS., advancing
through sublime discourses, in amplitude the rival of
Jove, though He saw not Egypt, served with glorious
wisdom” (xxii. 16, 22).

In the monkish tract called Excerpta Valesiana,
appended to this work, the reader will find the clue to
these curious interpolations. It is indeed hard to say,
in particular parts of the work, how much is Roman
and how much Catholic. The death-bed scene of the
great Julian has, however, been spared, and the work,
compared with that of Eutropius and other annalists,
contains complete materials for the exoneration of that
Emperor from the foolish charges made against him.
To enter into a full examination of this subject would
carry us too far from our present purpose. Let it suffice
to observe that neither Julian nor his contemporaries
had, or could have, the slightest knowledge of ecclesi-
astical affairs.^

With regard to the term Galilmi, so constantly
occurring in the pretended work of Julian, it is trace-
able solely to the canonical and other sources of the
Basilians and the Benedictines. The like observation
applies to the Nazorcei or Nazarcd, which the monks
who write rmder the names of Epiphanius and of
TertuRian declare was one of the early names of the
Christicmi. It is probably taken from the Arabic and
Jewish Nozaxa, Nozarim, as a general term for heretics.
How entirely ignorant the monks must have been of
the geography of Syria at the time they began this
activity may be seen from the work, Cyril against
Julian, where Galilsei are thought of as a people “ in

1 To Eutropius add A. Victor aud S. Rufus Festus, as sources for the
diaraoter of Julian.

INTEEPOLATIONS IN’ ROMAN LITERATURE. 465

J udsea,” and then as all the Gentiles ! The idea of
them as Christians has been derived from the passage
in Isaiah.

The rise of the denomination Galilsei, for the
ancestors of the Christiani, may be dated from about
the time of William of Tyre,^ after the foimdation of
the principality of Antioch by the Normans.

Claudian, one of the finest of old Romans, has not
only had Christian hymns, long admitted to ^ ^
be spurious, ascribed to him, but he is made,
with Lucan, to re-echo the tale about Pompey and the
Jews —

“ In mercem veniunt Cilices, Judsea, Sophene,

Eomannsqne lalDor, Pompeianique trinmphi.’^ 2

The sentence, ‘^Judaicis quse pingitur India velis,”®
has also given rise to speculation. Lydiacis and
Niliacis have been suggested as emendations.

The Ejpitoma of this author deals with military
affairs. He is an old Roman, but an attempt f. vegeuus
has been made to impart a Christian colour ^‘iheo-
to his writing, in the same way that Firmicus ^
or Ammian have been dealt with. For example, he
makes Roman soldiers swear “ by God, and Christ, and
the Holy ^irit, and by the majesty of the Emperor,
which, according to God, should be loved and wor-
shipped by the human race.” *

The monks have disfigured the Itinerary of Rutilius,
a poem inspired by genuine old Roman feel- p. E^taius
ing, with another spiteful explosion against Nomatianus.

the Jews —

“ Sumama animat dmocidbile cibis.” ®

1 vii I, ® Swtrop. i. 220. * IMd. 357.

* ii. 5. “ V. 384.

2 a

466

THE EISE OE CHKISTENDOM.

Then we have a declamation against the “frigid
Sabbaths” and cu-cumcision — a wish that they had
never been subdued by Pompey and Titus, and the
absurd assertion once more renewed that the victorious
Komans stand in dread of the Jews.

Here also we find the first of a series of satires
upon the Tnonks, with a pun upon their name ; the
isle Capraria is said to be full of them.^ The passage
is amusingly characteristic of the sly forgers of Monte
Cassino.

There is also a line about Osiris unsuitable to the
mouth of a Eoman prsefeet.”

The original Boetius is a popular eclectic philo-
Fitth oen follows Plato and Aristotle, Cicero

turr. and Seneca. Though innocent of any but old
Eoman piety, he has been converted by the
monks into a Christian, and his treatise, De Consola-
tione, has been used in their interest.

The same system of interpolation has been applied
Zosimn, e. to the work of Zosimus, who was a Eoman
430-491- Comes. He is made to tell a strange story

of the conversion of Constantine by a certain Egyptian,
who persuaded him that the opinion of the Christiani
was destructive of all sin. The crime-stained Emperor
received the story, and renounced the mantic art. The
reader will find the source of such stories again in
writings composed in the Basilian monasteries. ®

There are other interpolations, favouring Church
theories of history.*

1 V. 439, seq. s V. 375.

3 See the Homily ascribed to Chrysostom, 1% Ep. ad Phil, c. iv. bom. xv*.
5, where Fausta is exposed to wild beasts. Cf. G. Codinus, De Origg., who
says Constantine had been made a Christian by Euphrates, his Accubitor.

* See iv. 2 , 36 ; contrast the inscription in Gruter, p. 160, which con-
tradicts the story. The Roman emperors remained pontiflfe to the end.

INTEEPOLATIONS KT R0]!1AN LITEEATTJEK 467

A great object of the interpolations in Ammian
and Zosimus has been to represent Churches as asyla
in those times.^

Then we find a long fable about Theodosius the
Great, and how he endeavoured to persuade the Senate
to become Christian.^ Then we have the story about
John (Chrysostom), bishop of the Christiani, inserted
(a. 401), and the anger of the Empress against him.
“ The fellow was a clever hand at managing the sense-
less mob.” One of the curiosities of the monkish
imagination is its delight in representing monks and
their heroes as prominent in turbulent scenes. Nor
is it possible to avoid a smile when we come upon a
picture of the monks drawn by the hand of one of
their own number. So strong was their craving for
notoriety, or their fear of detection, they have not
scrupled to launch a stray invective against the Orders.
It is said of them that celibates are useless for war or
other necessary political service, that they have appro-
priated the greater part of the land, and under pretext
of charity to the poor, have reduced all to poverty.
When could this passage have been written down ? ®

An analogous* passage inserted in Eunapius, and the
notorious story of the murder of Hypatia, belong to
the same category, and betray the same effort after
false notoriety.

A gfli-n, a good monk plays the part of intercessor
with Alaric ; and Zosimus the old Roman chimes with
Sozomen the Basilian monk as representing the Bishop
of Rome as ambassador to the Emperor in 409.^ An
interesting tale relates how the prohibition of the

1 Zos. iv. 40, v. 8, 18, 29, 35, 45. SO. * iv. 59-

^ V. 23 ; cf. Socr. H, E. vi. i8 ; Sozom. viii 21, Eunapius, VU. Mdesii^ s. £
* is. 6, 7.

468

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOISL

Christiani from wearing the belt of service in the
palace had been withdrawn.^

Zosimus also is made to repeat some of the Basilian
tales about Julian.

Macrobius is a valuable source for old Eoman religious
ideas of his time. He is absolutely ignorant

^[&cro^ius. (*T ii“ 1“ j_

of dews, yet he is made in one passage to
relate a joke of Augustus, when he heard that Herod
in Syria had ordered boys within two years old to be
slain, and that he had also killed his son —

“ ^Tis better to be Herod* s pig than his son,** ^

After all that has been said elsewhere, I need only
advert to the mass of fraudulent writing which has
been put forth xmder the name of the Emperor Justinian
and the scholars who flourished in his reign. The
remains of the treatise of John the Lydian on monks
bear witness to the fact that the institutions of the
old Eoman state religion remained unchanged. Yet,
when John is discoursing on sacrifices, a monk has
thought proper to insert a text from Isaiah, “ To what
purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me ? ”
&c. As if the Imperialist were a Jew. *

I hope I may excuse myself from discharging any
more of monkish falsehood and nonsense into these
pages. The above specimens will have shown their
animus and their method. It was well calculated to
deceive, and it has deceived that large class of persons
who find the lies of an individual detestable, but who
respect and believe the lies of a confederacy. By
means of tales which encourage popular odium of the
Jews, and which magnify alike the virtues and the
vices of Christiani or Monachi, with their mysterious

' >■ T. 46. ’ Sat. ii. 4 ; of the original in Ael. Var. H. xii, 56.

INTEEPOLATIONS IN EOMAIf LITEEATUEE. 469

and polyonymous ancestry, the authors have certainly
flattered many persons of their time and obtained a
strong hold of the credulity of the world.

At what time were these interpolations made 1
When we consider the great poverty of books in the
monasteries and the schools, and the smaUness of the
reading class at any time before the great revival of
learning, it seems almost certain that much of the
work was not attempted until just before that re-
vival, when the monks must have felt that their day
of judgment was at hand. Some have suspected Poggio
himself of a part in the nefarious work. At all events,
many of these forgeries have been executed with sufli-
cient cleverness by the mercenary servants of the Pope
to deceive generations of scholars, otherwise acute,
who have approached the literature under the stupor
of ecclesiastical prepossession. The renewed study of
the subject will convince the educated world how
young and recent are many of those ideas in respect
of the origin of Christendom which have prevailed
among us since the invention of printing and the
diffusion of books.

CHAPTER XII.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.

And now to bring these inquiries for the preseiat to
a term. Let me invite the reader to recall, in one rapid
survey, the course of events in our European world
since the conquests of the Arabians, from the seventh to
the ninth century. In the ninth century the prevalence
of the creed of Islam, from the Indus to the Straits of
Gibraltar, is the great, the imposing, the never-to-be-
forgotten fact in the history of our culture. The next
century is the darkest of all the ages : we can know little
or nothing of what was occurring in our world, except
from the slight deposit of fact contained in later
chronicles. It may, perhaps, be regarded on the whole
as an age of repose. The Arabians were advancing
in culture, and the Western world was slowly recover-
ing from its long dismay. The beginning of the ago
is marked in literature by the production of the groat
Chronicle of Al Tabari at Bagdad, and its close by
the infancy of the Hebrew language and literature at
Cordova.

The eleventh century shows us again the world in
strong commotion. The Turkish hosts, fresh cham-
pions of the religion of Allah and His Apostle, are the
terror of the Roman Empire in the East as the Nor-
mans in the West. When we arrive at the last decade
of this age, we stand at the greatest epoch in European

470

SUMMAEY AND CONCLUSION.

471

history since the rise of Islam. It is the epoch of
those expeditions to the East commonly called the
Crusades, or Sacred Wars.

Now there is a considerable mediaeval literature
relating to the first of these wars, which should bo
closely and much more critically examined than hitherto
it has been. But I may, in closing, offer upon this
subject a few general observations. In the first place,
this literature pai'tly belongs to the synagogues, partly
to the cloisters of the great Orders, and partly to the
Arabians. All, therefore, who were concerned in the
making of our mediaeval culture were interested in this
event, and have recorded their impressions of it. It is
from a comparison of these impressions that wo can
alone hope to approach the actual occurrence. For
the facts have been, as usual, enveloped in interested
fable.

With regard to the Jews, it may bo said generally
that their historic memory begins with that war, and
their impressions have been written down as if with
pens dipped in blood. ITie synagogues in Germany
were attacked by the rabble of the host, and the de-
votees of the Law were massacred, or they themselves
chose death rather than life under circumstances that
cannot now be thought of without horror and profound
pity. Those things have been written down in the
language of the Bible, and in the style of the Bible,
by men of the same Ilabbinical class with those who
produced the Biblical writings, and who were well
aware that the lamentations of psalmists and prophets
were the expression of hearts tiiat had suffered sorely
in that terrible time. It was the time when the people
scorned forsaken of the Eternal.

If my argument in these pages has borne hardly

472

THE EISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

against the Orders, I am the more glad to state my
own opinion that they had no share, direct or indire6t,
in these atrocities. The monks, as usual, represent
one of their fraternity as the prime lever of the whole
movement. Yet the tale about Peter the Hermit of
Amiens is not only grossly improbable in itself, it
stands in contradiction with other statements of the
Papal writers. This has been noticed by M. de Mon-
talembert, the great fautor and defender of the monks,
who deprives Peter of the credit of the origination, and
is disposed to assign the same to Urban II. The
utterances, however, which have been put in the mouth
of that Pope, were in all probability coolly written
down more than a century after the event.

Of the work written in a Basilian cloister and as-
cribed to the Princess Anna Comnena, all that need
here be said is that it was written at some time after
1148, and probably long after, when the liberty taken
with her name and house was not likely to be censured.
Similarly the work ascribed to Zonaras was written in
the cloisters of Mount Athos at some undefined time
after 1118. The Chronicle of Glycas, which ends at
the same year, was written in the fifteenth century.

There is a mass of writing, equally dubious in date,
from the Latin cloisters. Curious, for example, is the
story of the Chronicle of Monte Cassino, ascribed to
Leo of Ostia and Peter the Deacon in the twelfth cen-
tury. About 1439 Ambrose Traversarius is said to
have made an epitome of it, and in 1513 this epitome
is edited at Venice by another monk of the Order as
if it were the genuine work of Leo. Yet another monk
of Monte Casino alters and mutilates the same MS.,
and edits it at Naples in 1616. What can be said for
the genuineness of the longer Chronicle in the face

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.

473

of facts like these ? Another epitome, for the period
496-857, has been designated by Wattenbach a “por-
teutoiis Chronicle.” The same epithet may perhaps
bo applied to a mass of other writing from the same
page, including the “ ITistoiy ” from the pens of
anonymi of Monte Cassino, covering the periods 1000-
1212, 1 000- 1 T 54. When we arrive at the handwriting
of the period 1191-98, 1209, we have still no con-
temporaiy writer. Now, if no men were from that
sacred height looking on the events of 1096, we may
well despair of discovering a monk in any part of the
world who was.

Whether we road in the historic epic poem of
William of Apulia, Avho probably writes at Bai-i, or
in the Chronicle of Lujnis of the same town, or in
the romantic pages of William of Jumiege, "William
of Mahnc.sbuiy, or Ordcric Vitalis, or Fulcherius of
Chartre.s, it is with the result of convincing ourselves
that these men wrote at a great distance from their
objects, and much nearer to the time of Matthew Paris
than to that of the first Crusade. Some of them write
as good Latin as that of the monks who pretend to be
eye-witnesses of the deeds of Charles the Great, or of
the state of the world in the fifth century. It is one
of the facts which betray them.

William of Tyre is supposed to lay down his pen in
the year 1184. And the weak inference is drawn that
he must have died soon after. He may have been
Chancellor of King Amalarich and Bishop of Tyre, but
the unfortunate fact is that no more is known of his
extraction, the date of his birth and death, than in the
case of any other member of his Order. The like may
be said of his continuator, Bernard the Treasurer, who
is supposed to lay doYm his pen in the year 1 275, some

474

THE EISE OE CHRISTENDOM.

sixteen years later than the Benedictines of St. Albans.
But there axe other important indications of the true
epoch of the chroniclers of the first Crusade.

The Arabians apparently do not take pen in hand to
record that event until the thirteenth century ; aird
their touch is not firm until they have advanced some
decades beyond the capture of their Holy City, Ailia,
called by the monks Hierosolyma, or Jerusalem. Moses
Maimonides is said to have been born about forty years
after the taking of that city, and perhaps during that
interval the vivid descriptions in poetic and oracular
form of the great event which stamped upon the brows
of the Eabbin the expression of the man of sorrows,
had been written down and had been recited in the
synagogues. It must be repeated that the life of
Maimonides, c. 1139-1205, is the strongest datum that
we possess, and constitutes at present the most certain
clue by which we shall be enabled to extricate our-
selves from the labyrinthine paths of medimval history.

Now the author of the GestaDei — or as Gibbon pre-
ferred, DiaboU per Francos — is said to have been
Guibert, Abbot of St. Mary, at Nogcnt-sous-Couci.
Whenever the writer lived, he saw a certain coitc-
spondence between the events of the war in Syria and
descriptions in the book of Ezekiel, which ho freely
cites as prophecies. If the book could not have been
known in the cloisters until some time long after
Maimonides’ time, and it appears certain that it could
not have been so known, then the writer of the Gesta,
with his colleagues in the Orders, may fairly bo placed
about the middle of the fourteenth century. This
result coincides with the result of all our previous
investigations.

I leave the reader to examine for himself the works

SUMMARY ARD CONCLUSIOIir.

475

written by Spanish Eabbins in the sixteenth or seven-
teenth centuries, the Chronicles of E. Joseph, the Sceptre
of Judah, and the Valley of Baca. The Eabbins had
but scant materials in the Hebrew language. They
have had recourse to the monastic sources, and have
been deceived by fables respecting the existence of
Jews so early as the sixth century in Europe. When
they come to the persecutions at Granada, c. 1066-
1070, they have some indistinct traditional particulars,
handed down in the synagogues. Only when they
come to the year 1096 do they begin to give details,
which throw a flood of light upon the meaning of the
Book of Esther, and upon that infinitely pathetic
elegiac strain which we hear equally in the songs of
the Korachites and in those of the Eabbinical poets,
the forerunners or contemporaries of Maimonides. A
voice sounds still from the Biblical page, pleading with
us no longer for mere cold justice, but for love towards
a people who have indeed borne the chief burden of
the sin and sorrow of that awful time.

The more attentively we study the facts relating to
the beginning of the Chronicle literature in general, so
far as they have yet been ascertained, the state of
libraries, the extreme paucity of readers at the close
of the fourteenth century, the more difficult it will be
to admit that, for the two or three centuries following
the first Crusade, we have anything more than a system
of romantic fiction, based on dim reminiscences of
actual historic events. Only in the fourteenth century
is the Church emerging out of obscurity to be described
by poet and philosopher, her exact origin unknown to
the men of science.

And now let us use the privilege of imagination, so
habitually misused by the men of the Middle Ages, and,

THE EISE or CHEISTENDOM.

before; and the last hour of our existence does not
bring death, but only consummates it. We die many
times ; our last death is that which snatches us away.

A brave and wise man ought not to flee, but to
march forth fi’om life. And above all, we should avoid
the lust of dying, which seizes upon many.^ The prayer
of Maecenas was extremely base, on the other hand,
when he longed for life, though in the absence of all
that makes life a good.®

When that day shall come which shall separate this
The Better mixture of the diviue and human, I shall
Life Beyond, leave tMs body where I found it; I shall re-
store myself to the gods ; not that I am now apart from
them, but an element of the grave and terrene detains
me. Through these delays of mortal time there is a
prelude to yonder better and longer life. This space
from infancy to old age is like a preparation for a
second birth of nature. Another origin expects us,
another state of things. ’Tis only after an interval
that we can bear heaven. I look intrepidly forward to
yonder decretory hour. ’Tis the last hour for the body,
not for the soul. Look upon all that lies around you
as the furniture of an inn. You may not take out
more than you brought in. . . . That day that you
dread as your last is your eternal birthday. Lay down
the burden ! ®

It is sometimes said that Seneca is profuse in words.
Is it not to be admired that on topics so trite as life’s
elementary interests and duties there should be so
great an abundance of expression? The stream of
eloquence is always sweet and pure, and of clearness
undisturbed. He accosts us never as a superior, always
as a brother or a friend. A gentle and strong hand

^ Ep. xxir. 2 Ep. ci. 2 Ep. cii

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.

477

kingdom. A few years after the fall of Tyre, we hear
of Messiahs starting up in. France, in Spain, in Persia.
Wandering Rabbins begin to arrive in London. E.
Ben Ezra is here, a little later than the middle of the
century, writing a poetical treatise in praise of the
Sabbatli. Like another Ulysses, he roams from city
to city, from Toledo to Rome and Mantua, and again
to Tiberias. Pie and his brethren doubtless pass in the
East for faithful followers of the Prophet and the
Koran. If we can trust Benjamin of Toledo, there
were but a few hundreds of the sons of Jacob in the
whole of Syria during this age.

The coming of the Rabbins prepared for the coming
of the monks, just as the unpopularity of the Jews in
general paved the way for the success of the Church
polemic against the whole race. How is it possible to
think of the monks in London, or any part of the
island, until they had the Dogma and the Legend to
proclaim, which was at the same time a proclamation
of war on the part of the Abbots against the Rabbins ?
We hear of the Abbot of Rievaulx writing his ecclesi-
astical romance about King Edward the Confessor in
the year 1163, a date that must be taken with great
latitude for correction. We hear of the enigmatic De
Diceto as Dean of St. Paul’s about forty years later.
On the whole, the provisional conclusion may bo
adopted that the Benedictines came hither during the
latter half of the century, and that St. Peter and St.
Paul became tutelar saints of the Thames a few years
later than they became tutelars of the Tiber. Then
it was that the cloud of fable began to envelop the
origins of English history, and that our country became
a holy land, sanctified by the footsteps of St. J oseph of
Arimathea and the Apostolic pair.

478 THE RISE OF CHEISTEITDOM.

The beginnings of Oxford and Cambridge can be
hardly discovered at the close of the twelfth century ;
and certainly, until those schools were founded, little
or nothing could have been heard in this island con-
cerning the Christian theory of the past. There were
the dramatic ceremonies centering upon the Mass ;
there was the Missal, with its lessons, gospels, and
epistles; there was little more. It requires an ofFoit
of imagination to conceive the paucity of Bibles through
the whole period from the first Benedictine foundations
down to the dissolution of the monasteries. Lindisfanic,
for example, has been made the object of the special
investigations of Mr. Rainc. The tradition runs that
the Priory was erected about 1094, island

became holy ground. It is probable that the date
must be lowered by about a century.

But Mr. Eaine has shown that the little library of
the Priory could at no period boast of a classical author,
a Chronicle, or even one of the numerous treatises
ascribed to the Venerable Bede; and that it is a
positive fact, from the year 1416 to the dissolution, the
monks wore frequently, and in fact generally, without
a Bible, Nothing moi'C was necessary tlum the Servi(;e-
books. On Holy Island, then, as conveniently as on
any other monastic ground in the island, the line may
be drawn between the luxuriance of the dream-world
to which St. Cuthbort and Bseda belong, and the hard
prosaic fact of the origins. To such fact wo must
adjust our intelligence, by such fact we must correct
our fancies, if wo are over to see clearly into the
beginnings of English history.

Suppose then that we stand in the dawn of Christian
light in England, from the last decades of the twelfth
century. The Pontifical tradition invites us to follow

SUMMAET AND CONCLUSION.

479

the steps of an English monk, who quits the island to
assume the direction of the Order — that is, of the
Catholic world. Suppose that we visit on our way
the cloisters of Cluny, Citeaux, and Claremont. We
may find there great enthusiasm, great hopes of military
glory in the East, and of spiritual victories in the
West, but dense general ignorance of everything literary
except the contents of the Service-book. Arriving at
Monte Cassino, we find ourselves in a strong fortress,
the seat of Christian orthodoxy, guarded by the sword
of temporal power. We find the gaze of the monks
set toward Borne, where a conflict is beginning between
them and the Senate and people. Many of the frater-
nity are stirring up the maritime cities to furnish the
material for the Oriental war. At the Greek cloister
of Grotta Eenrata, dependent on Monte Cassino, the
monks are perhaps busy, conjointly with their Latin
brethren, in devising their ambitious literary scheme.

Visiting Borne, we witness a riot among the people,
caused by the arrival of the new Pope, and a Cardinal
is assailed with blows. Leaving our coimtrymen to
persecute the people with curses bitter and dire, and
with an interdict, we turn southward, and find the
King of Naples and Sicily actively hostile against the
Order. Suppose that we tarry in those regions for a
few years, long enough to hear more futile curses
launched against the king, and then withdrawn, and
to receive the news of the expulsion of our countryman
from Borne, and his death at Agriganum.

Then we hear of the setting up of a number of rival
Popes. Intrigues against the liberties of England
come to our knowledge ,* we hear of the flight of the
chieftain of the ecclesiastical soldiery to the Continent,
presently of his return and his sanguinary death on

480

THE RISE OE CHEISTEHDOM.

the floor of the minster at Canterbury. A few years
later, and the Emperor Frederic besieges Eome. The
Pope, in the disguise of a cook, flees to Venice and
hides himself in that city. The next Pope is also cast
out from Eome ; his faction lose their eyes, and he
flees to Verona. Four others rapidly follow, all ardent
for the Oriental war, and determined upon making
Eome the seat of a new empire. They are especially
bent upon securing the alliance of Genoa and Pisa.

In the last years of the century we ai'c in Spain,
studying in the Eabbinical schools of Cordova and
Toledo. We hear perhaps of the rising fame of the
elder Kimchi of Narbonne, who is yet a young man.
We hear much of Maimonides, and, travelling to C'airo,
find him at the head of his school, in the ripeness
of age and faculty. We have reached the centre of
the orthodoxy that is elder than the Christian. Wo
make the pilgrimage to Mecca, and find otirsolvos at
last at the eldest of all the seat.s of orthodoxy from
which Europe has been influenced. A few years later
we hear of the death of Maimonides, yet a few years
more of the death of Innocent III. at Perugia in the
midst of Crusading business. So have aflkirs taken
the form of a groat revolution. A new spiritual
empire has been created, the world has been launched
upon a new course.

During the course of these tmvels we have paid
visits to Syria, and have seen that land become the
sink and gutter of all the vices of Ihirope, a.*? the
monks of the cloisters of England unite with those of
Tyre in bearing witness. The clergy and people arc
given over to luxury, the whole land is sordid with
crime and uncleanness, the whole world tottering be-
neath the burden of its sins. The Patriarch is living

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.

481

in open adultery. Murderers, thieves, and the off-
scouring of mankind arrive in the guise of pilgrims,
escaping from justice in their native lands, and return
no better than they came. But amidst all this out-
break of human folly and wickedness, the one mind
and spirit of the Bishops and Abbots is clearly dis-
cernible pervading the ranks of their army, and set
upon establishing strongholds of their power, no matter
at what cost of human life and human virtue, alike in
East and West.

The argument of these pages has been that the
Roman Church came into being as the rival of the
greater Church of Islam, and was borne to power
upon a passionate current of anti-Semitic feeling which
set in from the time of the conquests of the Turks.
Had we been present in the Holy City on the 3rd
October 1187, when Saladin entered to the sound of
trumpets, we might have listened to an eloquent ora-
tion from the lips of a doctor of Islam which would
have convinced us of the truth of that proposition.
Mohammed Ibn Saki read a lesson from the Koran,
and thus addressed the assembly : —

“Praised be Allah, who hath exalted Islam by His
favour, hath cast down the many gods by Ilis power,
rules the world after His will, divides benefits by the
measure of our thanks, casts down the unbelieving by
their craft, gives power to princes in His justice, pro-
mises the future life to them that fear Him. He com-
mands, and none gainsaycth ; He fulfils His counsels,
and there is no delay ! Allah, whom I praise, gave to
Ilis elect the victory and purified His house, that was
full of the filth of idolatry. He is the one only God
without associates, the Eternal who begetteth not nor
was begotten.

e n

482 THE BISE OF CHEISTENDOM.

“ Mohammed, His Servant and Apostle, who in one
nig ht journeyed from Medina to the Holy City and
ascended into heaven, cast down idolatry, and put lies
to shame. For it is blasphemy to caU the son of
Mariam a god ; yea, he himself will not deny that he
is but the Servant of Allah. Ye had the greatest
happiness ; ye have delivered the dwelling of the Pro-
phets, the home of revelation, the goal of the pil-
grimage of the saints. Because of this conquest the
gates of heaven opened, beams of light pierced to the
deepest abysses, angels rejoiced, the powers of heaven
prayed for you, the prophets and apostles of Allah
wept tears of joy. Preserve this blessing of the Lord
by the fear of the Lord ! Beware of evil passions, dis-
obedience, and sloth ; beware lest the devil and unbelief
glide into your hearts.

“Allah hath chosen you, therefore sacrifice your-
selves joyfully for Him ; help Him, and He will help
you ; think of Him, and He will think of you ; show
Him good, and He will show it to you. Or do ye believe
that your sabres of steel, your fine horses, or your en-
durance has won the victory? Only with Ilis help
can ye destroy the godless, cut off the shoots of the
unbelievers, and fall upon them as an easy prey. The
Holy War is your best service and your noblest custom.
But Thou, 0 Allah our Lord, preserve the Sultan, who
bows himself before Thy power and owns Thy benefits ;
preserve Thy sharp sword. Thy shining brow, the Pro-
tector and Defender of the true faith, the Victorious
Prince, the Centre of Thy faithful ones, Conqueror of
the Cross, Purifier of Thy holy house, surround him
with Thine angels, and exalt him for his deeds ! ”

Of the time immediately following Gibbon has
written, that the pecuniary emolument of the Saladino

SUMMARY ARD CONCLUSION.

483

tithe must have tended to increase the interest of the
Poj)os in the recovery of Palestine. “ Under Innocent
III., that young and ambitious priest, the successors of
St. Peter attained the full meridian of their greatness ;
and in a reign of eighteen years, 1198-1216, he exer-
cised a despotic command over the emperors and kings,
whom he raised and deposed ; over the nations, whom
an interdict of months or years deprived, for the offence
of their rulers, of the exercise of Christian worship.
In the Council of the Lateran he acted as the eccle-
siastical, almost as the temporal, sovereign of the East
and West. It was at the feet of his legate that John
of England suirendered his crown ; and Innocent may
boast of the two most signal triumphs over sense and
humanity, the establishment of Transubstantiation, and
the origin of the Inquisition.”

Yet the judicious Hallam observes that, as Hilde-
brand, Gregory VII., appears the most usurping of
mankind till we read the history of Innocent III., so
Innocent III. is thinwn into the shade by the superior
audacity of Boniface VIII. This pontiff, whose memory
is darkened by the accusation of fraud and violence,
celebrates in 1300 a centenary commemoration in
honour of St, Peter and St. Paul, dressed in imperial
robes, with the two swords borne before him. If the
precedent for this jubilee in 1200 bo imaginary, as
Hallam admits, equally imaginary are a multitude of
acts ascribed to the time of Innocent III.

The lives of the Popes during the thirteenth century
are in fact allegorical of the struggles of the great
Orders of monks and friars, and they may be fitly
perused in the light of the antiquities of Segni, Aquino,
and Monte Cassino. The striking legend of Boniface
VIII., that “ he came in like a fox, lived like a lion,

484

THE EISE OE CIIEISTENDOM.

and died like a dog,” is in fact symbolic of the first
age of the Papacy, as the ill name of Clement V. marks
the second in its seat at Avignon.

The story of the Kise of Christendom, as I have
endeavoured in these pages to discover it, is a story of
ambition and violence, disguised under the pretext of
self-devotion and philanthropy. In these late times,
the incessant declamation of the Papal advocates con-
cerning the necessity of the temporal power to the
Vicar of Christ, plainly reveal the instinct which has
governed the great Orders frem the very beginning.
They meant to make the material world their own.
These magnificent abbeys, minsters, and cathedrals that
we see around us arc monuments of the Christian
Empire which tell no lying talc. It is impossible to
connect them for a moment in our thought with the
Galilaean fishermen without an ironical smile. They
speak of human pride and luxury ; they witness to the
impoverishment of our kings and our people in the
interests of a self-elected class. They have been beauti-
fied by the hand of time, and the dark conditions of the
world under which they arose have been forgotten
by the multitude. But there can bo no doubt that
these piles were erected, to the dismay of thoughtful
observers, upon the very ruins and wrecks of the free-
dom of mankind.

It is sometimes argued that the Church once hold to
the text. My kingdom is not of this toorld, and that
the text is a judgment upon her pretensions to worldly
power. This argument was stated, with great wealth
of epigram and irony, in a sermon preached twenty
years ago before the University of Oxford by the
Regius Professor of Divinity, on the eve of the assem-
bling of the great Council in Rome. It seems to me

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 485

that the preacher — one of our most admirable philo-
sophers in the surplice — was in error when he fixed
that meaning on the text. For the Commentaries on
the Passion show that the Church means, simply to
assert the celestial, the supernatui’al origin of the king-
dom. She would prefer, doubtless, to strike her foes
prostrate to the ground by the mere force of super-
natural terror ; and the material sword is a poor weapon
to employ in her service who has legions of angels at
her command, and who can wield the sword of the
Spirit. None the less the Vicar of Christ has claimed
the two swords from the beginning ; and we see, fi’om
the exhortations of St. Bernard to the soldiers of the
Temple, that the Church at her origin had unsheathed
and was sharpening the temporal sword.

But it has been my task to trace analogous violences
of the pen, which have too long escaped the notice of
the world. Far more mischief and suffering has been
caused by her misuse of this humble instrument.
Monkdora passed under tlic censure and condemnation
of the world some 400 years ago, yet the false theory
of history which was dictated to an army of scribes
and copyists still remains in our literature, still troubles
our imagination and our conscience. It is time to say
that the claim to the temporal power was from the
first founded on figments of the pen, and can now be
only maintained by appeals to obsolete forgeries. And
apart from that, the mere claim is in itself a proof that
the Church is a kingdom of this world. As the
preacher before the university observed, it were vain to
say that the ultimate objects of Christ’s kingdom were
spiritual rather than worldly, because the test is, not
the nature of the objects, but the nature of the means.
If she uses force for this purpose — whether of the

486

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

sword or the pen — and declares that she does this by
inherent right, the Church is by her own profession a
power of this world.

Felicitously the preacher observed that the insist-
ance on this claim has in it “ the spirit of longing for
what is lost which is so common a trait of human
nature — that desiderium and regret which magnifies
the past, even because it is past, and clings to it the
more because it can never return. When the temporal
power of Eome is over in fact, it just then exists most
rigidly and imperiously in speculation. The greater
intensity of it as a dogma compensates for the absence
of it as a possession.” But the preacher did not see
that the Church was committed to this position, which
now seems so self-contradictory and suicidal, by her
original claim, not merely to have been coceval with
the old Koman Empire, but to have been the Koman
Empire itself in its divine form.

Turning to the recent utterances of another admir-
able countryman, a Eoman ecclesiastic, I find that he
still asserts the absolute independence of the Vicar of
Christ of any power under heaven. He relies upon a
History of the Pontiffs which I have shown to bo un-
historical, and asserts that from 800 to 1800 the Vicars
of Christ exerted a true, proper, and complete sove-
reignty over the city of Eome ; that the anti-Christian
revolution of our own age crowned its sacrilege on
September 20, 1870, when by force and bloodshed it
usurped the sovereignty of the Vicar of Christ in the
Holy City. I must, on the contrary, with great respect
for the orator, but with great firmness, maintain, in the
light of the foregoing pages, that the Vicars of Christ
were the most violent usurpers of the rights of indivi-
duals, of peoples, of kings, of humanity itself, that our

SUMMAEY AND CONCLUSION.

487

world has ever seen ; that their ascent to power could
only have occurred during a long eclipse of truth and
justice, and that truth and justice have asserted them-
selves in their fall.

The same orator maintains that the history of civilisa-
tion is the history of Christianity, that the history of
Christianity is the history of the Christian Church, that
the history of the Christian Church is the history of
the supreme Pontiffs, the greatest legislators and rulers
the world has over seen. The substance of the last
two propositions cannot be disputed. But, with
regard to the first proposition, it seems to me that
the history of the medioeval Pontiffs is not the history
of civilisation, but part of the history of a great interrup-
tioir in our Western cultrrrc, of which another part is
the history of the Caliphs and of the Oriental religions
which florrrished under their rule. I know not how
any independerrt thinker can fail to concur with this
opinion when, for example, he turns over the pages
of Stobmus’ Florilegium, perhaps compiled iir Justinian’s
time, and glances back at the intellectual monuments
of the shining thousand years which had elapsed
before the death of that emperor.

What have the Dogma and ^the Legend done for the
education of the world? What benefits have flowed
to humanity from the great Church organisations?
It is impossible to discover any benefits that have not
been accidental to the system, nor due to the goodness
of individuals who have been enlisted in the service
of the Church, It is not the system which has made
civilisation, but civilisation which has softened and
gradually transformed the system. It has been common,
for example, to say that Christianity or the Bible has
made England great. On the contrary, it is the vigour

488

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

of English, intellect and humanity which has been
constantly impressing itself on the spirit and teaching
of the Church from the time of the lleformation. Since
the multitude became possessed of the Bible, they have
made the Bible echo their own sentiments, which have
become more and more humane. The interpretation
of the Bible changes with every generation, and so
measures the progi’ess of culture. But the attempt to
cling, from old habit and affection, to the mediajval
literature, while it has been suffused with modern
meanings, has led at last to a great confusion of ideas.

Nominally we arc Christians, but really we mean
humanity. The creed is still recited, though not an
article remains intact in general belief. The New
Testament is revered, yet none thinks of obeying its
plainest rules of conduct. There is little spirit of
persecution, because no dogma commands a hearty
assent. Experience is our master, and as experience
shows that the life of the rebel against the dogma
may be purer and nobler than that of its professional
supporter, a coldness towai’d all dogma has set in.
Enthusiasm for it cannot be kindled; yet the people
do not willingly hear it oppugned. In such a time
of lukewarmness the influence of true teachers, who
know that the study of facts must precede the forma-
tion of opinions, and that in the knowledge of the
facts that concern us lies our salvation, is enfeebled.

It may yet be long before we recover that simplicity
of thought about life and duty which was reached by
antiqiuity after long toil. But if it bo asked, “ What,
in the decay of the mcdiajval ideas, will be the teaching
of the future?” acceptable answers may surely be
found, none the less pertinent and fresh because they
are ancient. What can be better than the intention

SUMMAET AND CONCLUSION. 4S9

of the following : “ Ariston said that of objects of
philosophic inquiry some concern us, with others we
are not concerned, and others are beyond us. Ethics
are our concern; dialectics are not, because they do
not contribute to the improvement of life. The secrets
of nature are beyond us, it is impossible to know
them.” Or than this: “To know God is difidcult,
and to express Him impossible. For to signify that
which is bodiless by means of the body is impossible,
to apprehend the perfect by means of the imperfect is
not possible. Nor is it easy to associate the unseen to
that which is but of short duration. The one is for
ever, the other passes away ; the one is in truth, the
other is but shadowed by phairtasy. The weaker
differs as much from the stronger, and the less from
the more, as the mortal from the divine. The interval
between these darkens our vision of the fair and good.
By the eyes bodies are visible, and by the tongue things
seen are said ; but that which is bodiless, and in-
apparent, and most formless, and not composed of
matter, cannot possibly be apprehended by our senses.
I conceive, 0 T^lt, I conceive what cannot be uttered,
and this is God.”

Had the Orders, with whom we have been concerned
so much in these pages, been the true philosophers
and the true Stoics they professed to be, they would
have circulated such simple life-wisdom in the world
as current coin, and we should now bo blessing their
memory instead of deploring the enormous waste of
human heart and brain which their effort to extirpate
that wisdom from the world has caused. And what
will be the future of the great teaching Orders of the
Church ? It is impossible to contemplate them in this
day without interest and affection, partly because they

490

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

link us to a distant time, partly because there have
been found in their ranks many of the very flower of
mankind. What records of unstinted devotion and
courage and patience in the cause of the Christian
Empire are to be found, e.g., in the annals of the great
Society of Jesus ! WTio can think without admiration
of the extraordinary ardour with which these modem
Crusaders went on their missions to far-distant bar-
barians, that they might print the Dogma and the
Legend on those rude imaginations — nay, upon the
very marks of animals and the flowers of the field?
Yet their lives were no less vainly squandered than
those of the mediaeval enthusiasts.

How long will successive generations of religious
men be ordered, like so many forlorn hopes, to assault
the slowly recovering conscience of the world? For
surely no clear-sighted churchman can expect that the
Church will regain her old power and prestige, unless
the conditions of her rise were to recur. Were the
European states to exhaust one another in internecine
war, were the Orientals again to rush in upon us, the
organisation of the Church might enable her to triumph
again amidst the ruins of our culture. But aibsit omen,
none but fanatics could desire an event like this. On
the other hand, with the defeat of the claim to temporal
power, the Church must surely undergo a change in
her constitution. Her conscience also will awaken,
and she will confess that the claim deserved to fail
because it was from the first fraudulent and unjust.

Why should we acquiesce in the notion of the rigidity
and immobility of the Church ? It is not a fact, it is
no law of Nature. What art has done, art may undo.
Persistence in her great dogmatic dream has brought
her into collision with the facts of the world; so

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.

491

soon as she adjusts herself to the facts of the world
her dream will change. Were a new spirit to be
breathed upon the Orders, it would be as life from the
dead for the mass of mankind. Were the priesthood
to discern clearly that the founders did not build for
eternity, but for time, not with far-reaching views for
human good, but in short-sighted selfishness, they
might renounce their principles. They might resolve
to bo philosophers in reality and in truth ; they might
call men to wisdom, virtue, and freedom with greater
joy than they have ever called them to servility ; they
might at last establish a spiritual empire founded
on truth and love. They might replace the forged
links with antiquity by a genuine connection; they
might restore culture, and bring it to a nobler pitch
than over antiquity knew.

During the last twenty years it may seem at first
sight as if the bark of St. Peter had been deliberately
steered toward the breakers and the rocks. But we
can hardly ascribe such infatuation to the ruling spirits
in the Church. Either their policy is a mechanical
necessity, the result of her past history, or it is a policy
of calculation. If it be the latter, then the rulers of
the Church cither contemplate a state of political
anarchy and the decay of culture, or they contemplate
changes in the Church organisation itself. Let us
hopefully assume the latter alternative. Were the
Pope, for example, to become in fact a subject of the
British Empire, ho would prove a powerful defender
of our law and order. Gradually we should cease to
hear of his claims to an imperivm in im^erio, and
the Church under his rule, being in fact subject to
the state, would in time be so recognised in dogma.
Gradually also theology would be subordinated to

493

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

ethics, and the teaching influence of the Church would
be exerted in favour of science and humanity. Should
other ecclesiastical heads arise in other empires, the
results would then he analogous. It would be the
interest of the teachers to move with, no longer
against the current of the interests of their fellow-
citizens.

The requirement of celibacy in the clergy would in
due course be dispensed with, and the gain would be
great to the strength and harmony of society and the
state. Slowly, in short, the clergy would be transformed
into a body of philosophers, mixing freely with all
classes of society, imparting the best knowledge, and
inculcating the noblest moral ideals of tlie time. They
would be a mighty leverage for good, they would no
longer be warring against principles that the most en-
lightened of mankind approve and love. Such in out-
line must be the form of our desires for the future, who
wish well both to the Church and to mankind. There
seems to be no reason why we should despair of their
realisation, so soon as the Church herself admits and
faces the facts of her historic origin.

Euripides, in some lines of great simplicity and
beauty, sings of the three virtues which all should bo
taught to practise from childhood : to honour the
powers above, the parents that begat us, and the common
laws of our country. If we do these things, we shall
enjoy the fairest crown of glory for ever. The words
are equally adapted to our times as to his, tliey may
be applied to England and the Empire no loss than to
Hellas. Church organisations were never needed to
teach these lessons, and it is because of the Church
organisations that they still remain untaught as the
elements of conduct, and that our moral condition is

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.

493

confused and weak. We are a house divided against
itself.

So soon as the teaching classes recover a distinct
conception of virtue, which is but a name for the
essential strength of humanity, so soon as they see
clearly that the love of truth for truth’s sake is the
highest object and the fairest result of culture, a great
reformation must sot in. No nobler rule of teaching
can guide our schools and universities than the Sola
hona qtiCB Jioncsta of the Stoics. In our time the old
universities have undergone great changes, and new
universities arc being formed. If the teachers do their
duty, they will deliver the facts, and no longer the
dogma, concerning those past 1 800 years of the world’s
history. They will explain that the dogma has less
relevance to the terrestrial scene than the dogma had
to the celestial scene before the time of Galileo.
They will restore the broken continuity of culture, and
bring the world once more into communion with its
true spiritual masters.

With great interest I have perused the eloquent
sermon of Archbishop Ireland preached at Baltimore
on the occasion of the centenary celebration of Catholi-
cism in America. Ilis text was from Ecclesiasticus iv.
33, “For thy soul fight for justice,” &c. The orator
haihid the “ new century ’’ with all the enthusiasm of
a philosopher and a philantlnopist. Among his re-
markable sentences were these : —

“I love my age. I love its aspirations and its
resolves. I revel in its feats of valour, its industries
and its discoveries. I thank it for its many benefac-
tions to my follow-men, to the people rather than the
princes and rulers. I seek no backward voyage across
the sea of time. I will over press forward. I believe

494

THE RISE OF CHRISTENDOM.

that God intends the present to be better than the
past, and the future to be better. We should live in
our age, know it, be in touch with it. Our work is in
the present, and not in the past. It will not do to
understand the thirteenth better than the nineteenth
century.”

There was much moi’e to the same ciicet. lJut even
in America, and in this late nineteenth century, the
clergy must be unable to cany out the noble ideas of
intellectual and social reform sketched by tire Arch-
bishop so long as they are fettered by the tr-aditions
of that dark age which still casts its shadow on us all.
It is full freedom of conscience that the Clhirrch needs ;
and freedom of conscience she cannot gain until she
has sat in judgment upon the deeds of her foirndcrs,
and has renounced for over the ideas which have failed
to save the world.

It is time to lay dowrr my pen. I have shown that
the Church was founded irr a time of darkness, wrath,
and dismay, and that the sole apology for the misidceds
of her founders lies in the fact that it was a time when
violence alone prevailed on the earth. In these gentler
days it surely is not too much to hope that she may
resolve to turn down her falsified and iniquitous i>ages,
and begin the chronicle of a now ora, iirscribcd with
the records of her endeavours in the cause of know-
ledge, of truth, of human love — ^records at the same
time of the admiration and gratitude of the world.
May these things be !

INDEX

A BG Alius and Jesus, Icgoud of, 414,
Acrostic oraclo, 436.

Adiuu in the Koran, 136.

Ahasuorus and Esthci-, 206.
Alexander the Groat, 209.

Al Makkari, Chronicle of, 301.

Anne, St., 407.

Appiau, 451.

ApuleiuH, 454.

Ai'chitocturo, evidence from, 61.

Ark, the, 184.

Aschoura, the Day, 172.
Augnstinian, the, on the Divine
suite, 35.

Augustus’ roigu and the Incarnation,
397 ; and the Pythia, 410.
Aurelius, Marcus, 457.

Ayoub (Job) the Patient, 162.

Bari and Otranto, 84.

Beni Israel, and the Ai-alis, 279.
Bible, in the light of modiceval times,
307 ; its symbolism, 309 ; reference
to Spain and Franco in, 31 1.
Boiitius, 466.

Burial customs, Arabian, 140.

Caubndaes, supposed Church, 53.
Calf, the golden, 175.

Carmelites, the, 407.

Cassianus, Joannes, 120 fL
Cassino, Monte, 77, 364.

Catacombs, 41.

Catalogues, the Latin, 356.
Catalogues of monastic writers, Greek
and Latin, 343 IT.

Cavern, the young men of the, 247.
Ceremonies, Moslem, revealed, 156.
Chalooudylas on the Muslim, 353.
Chaleondylas on the Nazarmi, 351.
Chaucer, Christ ology in, 372.

Christ, titles of, 395 ; origin of the
name of, 397 ; genealogies of, 403 ;
birthplace of, 408.

Christian legend, origin of the, 21 1,
Christians, mystical origin of, 396;
a new nation, 400.

Christology of the Church History
394 *

Christs, typical, 398.

Chronicle of Al Tabari, 133 jQT.
Chronicles, Church, system of, 349.
Churches, imaginary, of Justinian,
62.

Church History, the first, 25, 345, 347,

394 ff-

Cicero, 436.

Circumcision, Arabian, 151.
Claudian, teacliing of, 106-
Claudius, rise of name Christian
under* 428.

Cluny, 81.

Codices, false Boman, 58 ft.

Coins, Papal, 49.

Coins, evidence from, 47, 49.
Cordova, 7,

INDEX.

496

Cordova, Jewish school at, 297.
Cross, the, as sign of victory, 45;

hecomcs a Qiblah, 241.

Crucifix, the, 46.

Crucifixion of Isa, imaginary, 238.
Crusades, tho, in Jewish tradition,
313 ir.

Crusades, histories of the, 471.
Curtins, Q., 444*

Danikl in tho lion’s den, 245.

Dante, fathers and doctors in, 369.
David, tradition of, from the Muslim,
1 88, 290 j Jewish ideal of, 303,
Dccretuin of Gratian, 386.

Dicoto, Ilalph do, 365.

Diodorus, 441.

Dion Cassius, 451.

Discixdos, tho twelve, of Isa, 233.

ECLirsB, tlie, at the Passion, 424.
Edris, 140.

Elephant, men of the, 271 ; epoch of,
273 -

Elias, I S3,

Elisous, 184.

Ephraim and Manassoh, 16 1.
Epictetus, 452.

Epipliany, dogma of the epoch of,
402.

Esau and Yakouh, 157.

Eusebius Pamphili, 345,

Enstachius, St., 70.

Eutropius, 462,

Exodus, the, 171.

E2:echias and Isaiah, 202.

Family, the Holy, in Service-hook,
406.

Farfa, So.

Flaccus, Valerius, 447.

Flood, commemoration of tho, 142.
Florus, 452.

Franciscans, the, on the Capitol, t ;

and the New Testament, 3S1.
Franks, 75.

Frisians, 75.

“ Future, tlie,” in Soucca, 103.

Gebiuol, Ibn, 299.

Genesis, Arabian legends of, 135.
Gennadiiis’ Catalogue, 35S.

George the Maiiyr, 260 If.

Gibbon, i it

God and tbo gods in Honocn, lor.
Gog and Magog, 209.

Guido-b<)ok«, medijoval, 69.

Guilds, Itomaii, 72 it

IlARnoum, 14 it, 390 11 *.

Hebrew writing an<l grammar, 286 ;

tradition and the Arabian, 287.
Henry of (dient, 36(5.

Hcrodian, 45 s.

Ilistorfa Antjustti, 458.
lliHt<»ry, the first EcclesiaHtical, 26 j
systetn of (!hureh, 347.

Homer and tho llibie allegonHcd,
40a

** Honesty ” in Hcnetrjt, 97,

Horace, 437,

Houd, tho prophet, X44.

iBltAiUM, tho story of, 145 H
Ibrim and Klntr, 28H.
leonoclasm of IhraUim, 146 ; at tin.*
birth of Isa, 223.

Imram, the family of, 163.

Infancy, OosjksI <if the, 4(0.

Innocent III., retrospect from his
time, $7 ; at Tusculum, 33K.
Inscriptions, tho evidence from, 40.
InteriKdations in litoratnro of tho
Itonian Empire, 434.

Ireland, Arehbislmp, 493.

Isa, birth and togendo of, aax IT.

INDEX.

497

Isidore, 361 ; Isidorian Decretals, 387.

Islam, creed of, 221.

Ismail, 1 5 1, 157.

Israel, kings of, 185 ff., 201 ff.

Jeremx, the prophet, 203.

Jerome’s Catalogue, 356.

Jerusalem in poetry and history, 329.

Jesus, origin of the name, 397.

Jesus, His election to the priest-
hood, 425.

Jews, scholaof, 72 ; plot against, 2905
their mythology, 292 ; Si)aiiish
schools, 294 ir. ; splendid period
of, 29S ; Jewry at Toledo, 302 ;
persecutiouH of, 304 ; Mislmic
period, 333 ; in Chaucer, 375.

Joachim, Si, 407.

Jomis, sou of Matai, story of, 254 ff.

“ JoHCphi,” the two false, 324, 343.

Joshua, the prophet, 181.

Julian, deathbed of, 113 f.

Julianas A., 447.

Justinian, false Codex of, 58 ; ima-
ginary Churches of, 62,

Justus of Tiberias, 343.

Juvenal, 444.

Kaaija, the, 152, xs6.

Khaz<iil (Ezekiel), 183*

Khidr, 178.

Kironsch (Cyrus), 206.

Koran, legends of Genesis, &c., 135^4
story of Ibrahiiti, 145 ff ; Sara and
Agar, 149 ; the Kcsurrection, 158 ;
Yussuf, 161 ; Musa, 163 ff ; the
Exodus, 171 ; Elias, 183 ; Samuel,
186; David, 188 ff ; the Temple,
194; Suleiman, 195 ff; Isaiah and
Jeremy, 202, 203 ; Alexander, 209 ;
Gog and Magog, ; Augustus,
2x0 ; Zachariah, 2X z ; Mariam, 2x3 ;
Yahya, 215 ; Yussuf the carpenter,

218; the annunciation, 218 ; creed
of Islam, 221 ; birth of Isa, 221 ;
legends of, 221 ff ; his miracles,
227 ; prophetic office, 230 ; twelve
disciples, 233 ; the table from
heaven, 234 ; betrayal and cruci-
fixion of a substitute, 238 ; his
ascension, 246 ; heresies concern-
ing Isa, 241.

Labartjm, legend of the, 50.

Law's, Roman, 56.

Leonine city, the, 75.

“ Liberty ” in Seneca, 100.

Literature, rise of Church, 332.

Livy, Preface of, 24.

Loman, A. D., 12.

Lombards, Guild of, 75.

Longinus, 458.

Loqamn the Sage, 195.

Lot, cities of, 153.

Lucan, 443.

Lucian, 456,

Macrobius, 468.

Magi, the, and Musa, 170.

Makkari, Al, his Chronicle, 301.

Mani, 268.

Marcellinus, A., 463.

Mariam, Arabian legend of, 213;
heresies concerning her and Isa,
220, 241.

Martial, 446.

Mary, St., Feasts of, 406.

Maternus, R, 461.

Meal customs, Arabian, 153.

Mela, P., 440.

Melk, Anonym utt of, 365.

Messina, 86.

Michael, St., the cult of, 83.

Miracles of Pythagoras, x 16.

Missal, the, and the New Testa-
ment, 378,

498

INDEX.

Monastic ethics, 119 fF.

Monogram, the, and Victoria, 42.
Moureale, 86.

Montesquieu, 3.

Mosque, traditions of the, 133 fF.
Murder and hurial, legend of origin,
139-

Musa (Moses), 163 ff.

Aruslim in Chalcondylas, 353 ; in
Chaucer, 375.

Nazahet and Nuzarrous, 409.

Nemrod wars against heaven, 148.
Nero, reign of, 428.

Newman, Cardinal, 14.

Now Testament, its date, 380; geo-
graphy of, 384.

Nicholas, St,, of Ihiri, 84.

Nilus, St., and the Jews, 325 f., 337,
34S‘

Noah, the prophet, 141.

Noiitui Ut'bis, 66.

Novellfo, 59.

Numatianus, JRutilius, 465.
Niinieriius, 457.

Paeal liiHtor5^, retrospect of, from
Innocent III., 87.

Passion, the, a dogma, 416,
Paterculus, V., 443.

Patrologic mythology, 359.

Paul, St.., at Athens, 429.

Pausanias, 455.

Peris, conversion of the, 278,

Perwiiis, 448.

Peter and Paul in Arabian tradition,
239-

Peter's, St., Church, Rome, 71.

Peter, St., and St. Paul, Feast of, 432.
Pharaoun (Pharaoh), the, 163 £P.
Philip of Macedon, 208.

Philo, 343*

PhRo of Byblos, 456.

Phiuccs, 182.

Pierson and Naber's Vcnsuniliut 3S4,
Pilate, legends of, 413.

Pliny the 'i^oiingcr, 450.

Plutarch, 455.

Popes, Hook of the, 3S5, 389.
Porphyry, 457.

Prayers, sacrificial origin of, X 55-
Pythagorns, lUo of, loS if.
Pythagoreans and Platonists, the
new, 107.

Qarotjn (Korah), 179.

Qiblah, the, 280,

Quintilian, 449.

RAimTNrc;Ar4 succc.ssion, dogma of,

293.

Rabbins and the abbots, 323 ; in
Rome, 327.

Ramadan, Fast of, 280.

Resurrection, the, 158.

Rod of Musa, the, 168.
ivornunism, holy, 25,

Rome, mother, in (llaiulian, 107.
Romo, origin of, 23, 159; an imagi-
nary, 63 ; from Sae(f, ix.-xil
IlomuluH and Chri.st, 37.

Houin, the land of, 160.

Rufus, S., 4O2.

Saekuno and St Matthew, 85.
Balih, the prophet, 144.

Samson, story of, 259.

Sanity " in iScnoca, 99.

Sara, 149 ff. ■

Saxons, Anglo, 73.

Semites, the people of culture, 143.
Semitic mother tongue, 286
Seneca, L. AnmoYis, 96.

Seneca interimlatod, 446,

Serpetii, Arabian legend of, 137*
Sigebert’s Catiilogue, 363,

INDEX.

499

Silius Italic us, 447.

Simons, the two, at Rome, 429.
Simony, sin of, 431.

Sinai, Mount, the revelation on,
174*

‘ Sociality ’ in Seneca, 400.

Soul, the, in Seneca, 99.

Statius, 44S.

Strabo, 438.

Snbiaco, 79.

Suetonius, 452.

Sui<laH, nionaatic fables in, 346.
Suleiman, King, 195 IF.

Summary, 470.

Tacitus, 449.

Talmuds, the, 292.

Taloiit (Saul), King, 187.

Taurath (Law), reading of the,
177 -

Tomijle, the, at Ailia, 194.
Tcrtullian, 454.

ToKtainent, the Old, date of Ilobmv
MSS., 285.

Testament, the New, monastic, 131 ;
Roman and Retrino, 380; geo-
graphy of, 384.

Theodosius, false codex of, 59.
Things wacrod, religious, and sanct,
57 -

Tiboriiis consults the Senate, 427*

Tiberius and Herod in Arabian tra-
dition, 240.

Toledo, history of, 362.

Trithomius’ Catalogue, 376,

Trogus, P., 441.

Tusculum, Church connection with,
336.

Unity, the divine, revealed to Musa,
167.

Uaiversitios, 58.

Veeonica, 424.

Vices, the eight monastic, 124 IF
Victor, A., 462.

I Victoria, legend of, 50.

Virgil, 436.

Virgin, cult of the Blessed, 404.
“Virtue" in Soncca, 98.

Weitinc, invention of, 141.

Yaiiya, son of iiachaiiab, 215.

Year, the Sacred, 52.

Yoinon, 2O9.

Yussuf (JoHoph), the story of, 16 1 ;
the carpenter, 218.

ZaCIIAEIAII, the prophet, 21 1, 228.
ZmlvLBht and the Mages, 205.
ZosiniuH, 466.

)!*hlNTKI> «V BAM.ANTVKK, IIAN.SON AK©' CO.
KUINKUKOII AUO I.ONUON.